Beyond Repair
by angel2goddess
Summary: Jackie and Hyde have the chance to start over, one year later. Will they finally admit that they love each other, or will they go their separate ways? Rated M just to be safe, will have major adult themes later, including character death. Please review!
1. Happy New Year!

**A/N: Ok, I don't know what crackhead came up with Season 8, but they should be hit over the head and castrated, because it was just horrible. Jackie and FEZ?!!!! Can we say EWWWWWWWWWW!!!! Anyhoo, this is my take on what might have happened after the series ended. I hope you all enjoy! And one more thing, I own nothing, for if I did, never in my wildest dreams (or nightmares) would Season 8 have ever happened!  
**

**Summary: Jackie and Steven get another chance to right what went wrong in their relationship, but will they take it? Or is there just too much pain and hurt to overcome?**

_December 31__st__, 1980 19:30  
_

Jackie Burkhart knocked on the door to the Formans' home, feeling like she was finally home. Chicago had just not been what she thought it would be, and she was glad to be back in Point Place. Mrs. Forman opened the door, and said,

"Jackie, honey, we're so glad that you could make it! Come on in!" The older woman hugged Jackie tightly, while Jackie said,

"Thanks, Mrs. Forman, it feels good to be back. Has anyone else arrived yet?" Kitty laughed, her high-pitched, nervous laugh, before she said,

"No, not really. I just talked to Eric and Donna a few hours ago, they said they should be here by about 8, 8:30 at the latest."

"Oh. Is it alright if I wait in the basement, then?"

"Go right ahead, sweetheart," Kitty said, before she turned to go into the kitchen. Jackie walked down the steps to the basement, only to be greeted with a head full of ginger hair, something she hadn't seen in exactly one year.

"What the hell are you doing here, Steven?" she asked, as she stomped over to the couch, where he was sitting watching TV. Without even looking up at her, his arms still crossed, he said, in a voice full of venom,

"I'm allowed to be down here, Jackie. What the hell are _you _doing here? What, those Chicago boys aren't doing it for you anymore? Fez couldn't push the right buttons anymore?" Jackie lifted her hands in exasperation, and plopped herself down in the lawn chair. She turned her attention onto the TV, trying to distract herself from Hyde. She was bored out of her mind after a few minutes, but she refused to talk to him anymore, and decided to go back upstairs. She left him there, and thought to herself how wonderful a New Year she was going to have if he was there. The last New Year he had been alone, and she had been with Fez. She knew that inside, no matter what he said, he was dying, watching her with Fez; it was his worst nightmare, and she later realized it was hers as well. Fez was _not_ her type, no matter how much she tried to convince herself that he was. After a few months, she broke it off with him, and thank God she did; his insistence to "consummate their fiery relationship" had completely disgusted her. She thanked God every day since that He gave her enough sense to see that her relationship with Fez was not something that was good, as it was just not plausible; it was like dating herself. That, and a man who walked better than she did in heels, and looked damn good doing it, according to some of her gay friends, was not someone she should be involved with. So Steven had still not admitted that he loved her even after all this time; she would make him admit it. For now, though, she went upstairs to help Kitty get ready, and maybe steal some of her secret stash.

An hour later, a buzzed Jackie was greeted by the sight of two of her best friends walking through the door. Kitty ran over to Eric, screaming "My baby!" while Jackie and Donna hugged tightly, not having seen each other for a year. Once Eric had extricated himself from his mother's death grip, he went to hug Jackie too.

"Hey there, devil! Long time no see! How is everything?" Jackie smiled at him, before saying,

"Not bad, though Chicago is not quite what I thought it would be, but other than that, great. What about you, how's Madison treating you and Donna?"

"Eh, not too bad, but I swear, I really wish that I had a lightsaber some of the time, some of my professors are just morons, worse than those Death Star guys."

"Yeah, ok, Obi-Dobi," she said as she walked away, planning to join Donna in the living room.

"It's Obi-WAN!" Eric shouted at her as she walked away, making her chuckle. She pushed through the doors to find Donna sitting on the couch, munching away on some hors d'oeuvres. Jackie sat down next to her, and said,

"So, Donna, how's Madison so far? How is college going?"

"Actually not that bad. I really like a lot of my classes, and I think I picked out my major."

"Really? Which one?"

"Psychology, if for nothing else than to figure you and Hyde out, because you guys are just fascinating." Jackie choked on her dog-in-a-blanket, having to cough it up and wash down the chunks stuck in her throat with her beer. Donna chuckled, before grabbing a dog for herself.

"What?" Jackie finally said, her voice hoarse. "What do you mean, Steven and I are fascinating? _What _exactly is so fascinating about the two of us?" Donna snorted, before she turned to Jackie and said,

"Are you serious right now, Jackie? What is so fascinating about the two of you is the fact that you're still both in love with each other, yet you refuse to admit it to each other, and you continually keep hurting yourselves, just to prove a stupid point with your stupid pride." Jackie crossed her arms over her chest, and huffed slightly.

"I am _not _in love with Steven anymore!" Donna rolled her eyes at her best friend's antics, before she stood up and said, in a cutting voice,

"Right. That's why even though you were 'so in love' with Fez, you still kept chasing Hyde like a lost little puppy! And let's not mention that even when he made the choice to be with Sam, you had to keep pushing, you had to make him feel shitty, even shittier than he already felt for what he did. You just had to keep twisting the knife in his heart, saying that you loved him constantly. Yeah, I would say that's the definition of someone who isn't in love with someone else." Jackie stood up as well, and clenched her fists at her sides. She looked up at Donna, and suddenly just exploded.

"How DARE you, you lumberjack! You know nothing, absolutely _nothing_, about my relationship with Steven! NOTHING! How I cried myself to sleep every night for weeks on end after he left, how when he got back I could think of nothing else but him, how he pushed ME away! How when he ended up choosing that stripper over me, he might as well have shot me. Better that than to kill me slowly from the inside, making me watch every time he kissed her, or touched her, or, or…" Jackie's voice faltered as the tears took over, but she pushed them down, swallowing around the lump that had formed in her throat.

"I loved him more than anyone I have ever loved, or probably will ever love. He was everything to me, and I would have given anything to be with him forever! And what did he do? Never gave me an answer to my proposal, not that I should have expected anything different. He's Steven Hyde, master deceiver, Zenmaster extraordinaire, Mr. I-have-no-feelings. At least I hope he got a good fuck out of me, because that's probably all I ever was to him!" Jackie closed her eyes; she hadn't let anybody so far in to her world in a long time, almost two whole years. She hadn't even planned on telling Donna this, it was just the redhead brought her to the point of no return with her statement. She opened her eyes again, and continued with her rant, in a much softer voice.

"_He_ left _me_, not the other way around. I stuck around until the last minute when I had that first job offer in Chicago, and I was totally willing to give it up for him, to give up everything for him. I wanted to be Mrs. Jackie Hyde, my God, how I wanted to be her. I would have given everything I have, everything, anything, to be with the man that I truly loved for the rest of my life. What did I get in return for my love? A boot, stomping all over my heart. Surprise, surprise, another person who abandoned me." Jackie angrily swiped at her tears, noticing that Donna had tears brimming in her eyes. She pointed an angry finger at Donna, and said, in a voice cracking with anger and tears,

"Don't you dare cry. You have no right to cry. You _left_ me to go and become best friends with Sam, leaving me behind, confused and utterly lost. You have _no fucking right_ to cry! Do you hear me, Donna? You have no right to cry!" She screamed out the last sentence, before turning away from Donna and running straight out to the kitchen. Donna yelled out "Jackie!" before running after her, only to find that the petite brunette had already left the house. She got to the sliding door, and saw Jackie getting into her car.

"Fuck!" Donna yelled out, and turned around, only to be met by Hyde, standing next to the revolving door.

"Oh, hey Hyde." She was met by an icy silence, and she sighed, figuring out that he had been listening.

"How long were you standing there?" He took a sip of his beer, and moved closer to her, before he said, in a quiet voice,

"Long enough to hear what she said." Donna nodded her head, and walked towards the basement, leaving him standing in the middle of the kitchen, facing the sliding door. Donna stopped at the door to the basement, turning towards him.

"Well, aren't you going to go after her?" Hyde didn't move for a minute, and Donna waited. Without even saying anything to her, Hyde picked up his keys and opened the door. Donna smiled slightly, and opened the door to the basement, hoping that everything would be alright. After all, it was the New Year, and anything could happen.


	2. I'm Sorry

_December 31__st__, 1980 20:47_

Jackie sat in her car, parked at the top of the hill where she and Steven had once gone long, long ago, on their very first real date. She looked around, glad that she was the only one here, as she had huge black streaks running down her face, and huge raccoon eyes from her mascara running.

"Stupid Donna, I can't believe she still thinks I love that loser," Jackie said in a quiet voice to herself. Who the hell am I kidding, she thought, I _am_ still in love with him. She buried her head in her hands, and laid them on the steering wheel. The tears were slowing down, but she still could feel the utter despair that had lately come to settle deep within the pit of her stomach welling up again. She was so lost in thought that she didn't notice someone walking up to her window.

Tap, tap, tap! Jackie jerked her head up, completely confused as to what was going on. She looked over to her left, and saw that someone was standing right next to her window. She rolled her window down, only to be confronted with the face of the man that she had been thinking of.

"Jackie, we have to talk," he said, before he turned around and went back to his car. She huffed a little; how come it _always_ had to be on his turf? She rolled the window back up, and got out of the car, making sure she had the keys in her hand. Once she was sure that she did, she locked it, and walked the 10 feet to Hyde's car, where he was sitting on the flatbed. She took her seat next to him, and put her hands in her lap. He had his arms crossed over his chest, just staring up at the stars. She turned towards him, and said,

"So, what did you want to talk about?" He didn't answer her, and she knew better than to try and pull an answer out of him. She sat for what seemed like an eternity, waiting for his response, but none was forthcoming. She grew more and more irritated with every second that passed, before she finally said, in an irritated voice,

"Ok, Steven, you drove all the way out here, knocked on my car window scaring the life out of me, saying that you want to talk, and now you have nothing to say? Talk, you big jerk!" Without even turning towards her, he said,

"Your mascara is running." Jackie felt tears welling up in her eyes again; _that's_ what he wanted to talk about?! She could feel her blood begin to boil, before she turned to him, and said, in a voice that was brimming with tears and anger,

"Fuck you, Steven Hyde!" She jumped off the flatbed, and started walking back to her car, but not getting very far before he grabbed her arm.

"Let go of me, you ass!" she screamed at him, before placing a well-aimed kick on his shin, making him let her go. She ran towards her car, and he limped after her, yelling,

"Jackie, wait!" She reached her car, and with shaky hands tried to get the key into the lock, but dropped the keys instead. She muttered an expletive, and dropped to the ground, trying to get the keys before he got there. She didn't find them in time, as he picked her up from the ground, and pushed her against the car.

"God damn it, Jackie, I said wait!" he said, his face centimeters from hers.

"Why? So you can insult me some more?" She pushed his arms off her shoulders, and stood there, arms crossed over her chest. He ran a hand through his hair, before he said,

"I'm sorry about what I said. Lately I seem to just have a bad case of word vomit when it comes to you, but that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."

"So what exactly did you want to talk about?" He backed off a little, and turned around, before saying,

"I heard what you said to Donna." Jackie felt the blood drain from her face; _he was listening?!_

"Wh-what exactly did you hear?" she asked, her voice very soft. She uncrossed her arms, and waited for him to answer. He sighed, before he turned to face her, and said,

"Everything."

"Oh." She bit her lip; he had heard everything that she had told Donna, and now she didn't know what to say to him. She leaned back against her car, in complete shock.

"Look, Jackie, I'm really sorry about what happened between us. I really didn't want it to, I wanted it to work. It's just, you chose Kelso and I felt-"

"Wait, what? You think I chose Michael over you?" She looked up at the stars, a tear running down the side of her cheek. She knew he had thought something along those lines, but she didn't think his insecurity ran so deep as to abandon her before even hearing her side. She felt the anger bubble up again, and she let it loose on him.

"You stupid asshole!" she screamed at him. "You utter and complete MORON! You think that I chose _Michael_ over you?! Are you really so blind?"

"What the FUCK are you talking about Jackie? I come to your hotel room, and Kelso shows up naked with only a towel on and a bucket of ice! What the hell was I supposed to think, he was there to take an ice bath?!" he screamed at her. She was really pushing him; how _dare_ she call him a moron and blind?! What the hell was he so blind to?

"He was there to talk to me! Nothing else but to TALK! I purposely sent him away on some stupid errand, such as _getting a bucket of ice_, so that he would stop trying to have sex with me! I asked him to come so that I could talk some stuff out with him!"

"Really? And what 'stuff' would this be, Jackie? Who to nail next after me?" Jackie gave a little scream of frustration, and pulled at her hair. Her tears were starting to fall thick and fast, and they made him deeply uncomfortable. He hated when she cried, it brought out all his protective instincts. And right now, all he wanted to do was be angry with her; he didn't want to comfort her. She had brought up all this stuff when he had overheard her screaming at Donna; hell, he thought that the neighbors down the street heard most of the stuff that Jackie had said. Right now, he wanted to hear what she had to say next.

"No! It was more along the lines of talking to him to help me decide whether I should go to Chicago or not! He told me that if I really loved you, if I really wanted to be with you forever, then I shouldn't make the mistake of leaving you. That I really should not take the job, go back to Point Place and just be with you," she said, the last sentence said so quietly he barely heard it.

"And I was going to, as soon as he got back. I was going to have him drive me back to Point Place so that I could just throw myself into your arms and beg your forgiveness for trying to pressure you into something you weren't ready for. You beat me to the punch, though," she said, wiping away a tear. He sighed again; once again, he had jumped to conclusions. Surprise surprise, as Jackie would say.

"Jackie, look, it's just the way that everything looked, I jumped to conclusions."

"Yeah, I know that," she snorted.

"I didn't want everything to end the way that it did." He leaned against the car next to her, and crossed his arms again. "I came to Chicago to actually give you an answer, and my answer was yes." Her head whipped across to look at him so fast he thought she might end up with whiplash. He could feel her eyes searing the side of his head, but he wanted to continue. He needed to finish saying what he came to say.

"I'm so sorry, Jackie. I really am, because as much as you think that I didn't want to commit to you, I was beyond ready. Not for marriage just then, but I was ready to give you a sign that I wanted you for the rest of my life. But I really wasn't ready for marriage, not yet."

"What?!" she screeched, and he winced slightly. He had forgotten how ear-piercing her voice could be, while she steamed inside. He wasn't ready for marriage to her, but he sure as hell had been ready to marry that stupid slut stripper.

"You weren't ready to marry me, but you sure were ready to marry Sam, weren't you?" she said in a scathing voice. "Whatever, Steven," she said, before she started to walk away from him.

"Come on, Jackie, don't be like that!" She turned around, and said angrily,

"Don't bother, Steven, I get it now. Here I thought that maybe, just maybe, you had come here to tell me that you were sorry for everything and that you loved me and that you wanted to start over, but ha ha, the joke's on me, again!" She turned back around, and started walking faster away from him. He stood there for a second, before he made his decision. He ran after her, and when he caught up to her, spun her around.

"Get your hands off me, Steven! Leave me alone!" She struggled against him, beating her fists against his chest, but he held her fast around the waist. Then, he did something that was totally unexpected; he kissed her. Her eyes opened wide when he placed his lips on hers, but her eyes slowed closed as he deepened the kiss, and she encircled his neck with her arms. He put his hands on her hips, running them up onto her stomach, moving her shirt up with them. He had to feel her skin just one more time; it had been so long since he had touched her. He could feel her heart beating faster, and he was no better, his heart racing to pump blood to his fingertips, to his lips, to be able to feel her better. He couldn't see or hear or feel anything but her, and he didn't want it any other way.

She was dying; that was the only explanation she could find for Steven Hyde kissing her after almost a year and a half. She was dying, and she was going to heaven, with Steven paving her way. Her heart beat so fast that she thought it would explode out of her chest, and she felt the heat radiating from his neck, where her fingers were lightly massaging him, pushing him further into her mouth, bruising her lips with his. She never wanted it to stop; she wanted to freeze this moment in time and keep it like this forever. She belonged to him, just as much as he belonged to her, and she didn't want it any other way.

Eventually, the lack of oxygen made them pull apart, though they kept their faces mere millimeters away. He looked into her eyes, her brilliant mismatched eyes, and he felt himself being pulled in again. Her eyes, her beautiful eyes, were so wide, and sparkled with such love and passion, that he found himself wishing for more. He brought his left hand up to her face, cupping it, and wiped away a tear with his thumb.

"When are you going to understand, Jackie, that it will _never_ be over between you and me?" he said, as she looked up at him. She reached her hands up to his glasses, and slowly pushed them up onto his forehead. She looked into his crystal blue eyes, and said,

"Hey there, where ya been for so long?" He smiled at her, before he moved in for another kiss. And he would be damned if anybody tried to break them up again.

**A/N: And that would be that installment! Don't worry folks, there is still more to come! The story is far from finished yet, as you will see in the next installment. Stay tuned, and review, review, review!**


	3. Suprise!

_January 1__st__, 1981 11:22_

Hyde woke up, and blurrily opened his eyes. He felt something constantly poking in his ribs and he looked down to see what the hell kept poking him. It was then that he remembered that Jackie was in his bed, a _very naked_ Jackie. He lifted the covers slightly and saw that he was naked as well. He then remembered what had happened last night, how he and Jackie had made up, and then had come home, whereupon they waited for the New Year in Hyde's room. The fact that they had both gotten a little drunk last night didn't help him remember exactly what happened. Indeed, he only remembered in detail that he had found her last night, talked to her, kissed her and brought her home. The rest of it was a little blurry, but he smiled when he remembered what exactly he and Jackie had done last night. He looked down at her, smiling at her sleeping face. He moved some strands of hair that had fallen across her face in the night, waking her up. She slowly opened her eyes, and looked over at him.

"Hey," she said, her voice thick with sleep.

"Hey yourself," he said, smiling down at her. He kissed her then, a soft wake-up kiss. She smiled up at him, and turned herself around on his cot. She accidentally hit his ribs, and he winced a little.

"I'm so sorry, Puddin' Pop! What happened?" she asked, as she looked at the bruise that was starting to develop on his ribs.

"Well, you see, last night I made love with this crazy drunk girl, and afterwards she fell asleep. The thing is though, she kept elbowing me in the ribs, not to mention that she was just absolutely all over the place last night. Apparently, she couldn't get enough of me." Jackie smiled sheepishly; she couldn't deny what he said, she really couldn't get enough of him. She kissed him, a light peck on the lips, before she got up to go shower. She bent over to pick up her clothes, giving him a full view of her nakedness. He drank in her milky skin, the perfect shape of her pert butt, and he couldn't help but feel lucky. How many people really found that one person that defined the other half of them? He had found her, and he was going to fight to keep her with him.

"Come on, Steven, get up, we have to go."

"Where, Jackie?"

"In the shower, you silly thing," she said, as if he had asked her if her hair was brown, when he knew the answer. She stood up, and walked outside to the shower in all her naked glory. He followed quickly, knowing that he would probably get a little extra in the shower, as he knew that she was feeling especially frisky. She never asked him to shower with her unless they had just had sex, or if she wanted to get a little in the shower. He followed her out of the room, and heard her turning on the shower. Oh, this will be fun, he thought to himself.

An hour later, both Hyde and Jackie were upstairs eating breakfast, while Kitty smiled at them and Red hid himself behind a newspaper.

"So, Steven and Jackie, what happened last night?" Kitty asked, practically jumping up and down with happiness.

"Oh, you know Mrs. Forman, just our crazy basement games," Steven replied, a sly smile on his face.

"Yeah, I know that, Steven. I heard you two dumbasses moaning and groaning all night, ruined my damned New Year," said Red from behind his paper, though both young people knew that he was happy for them. He had given Steven a _long_ lecture after Sam had left about how he had deeply hurt Jackie, how that was all he saw written across her face, and that if he didn't stop being an ass to her he would "shove my foot so far up your ass you're gonna be polishing my boot with your tongue". Hyde knew that Red meant the best, but he was a rebel, so of course he didn't listen. Now, it seemed as if fate had intervened, and there was no way he was going to easily let Jackie leave now.

Jackie looked over at her Steven, eating his smiley face pancakes with a sly smile on his face, and inside she could feel her heart almost bursting with happiness. It had taken them a year and a half, one so-called marriage to a stripper and one "relationship" with a foreign student, but they were together again, and she would be damned if anyone tried to rip them apart.

_About One Month Later_

Jackie woke up first, the wave of nausea waking her up, forcing her to go to the bathroom and kneel to the porcelain king. Once she had finished throwing up, she carefully lifted her head away from the toilet bowl and leaned back against the vanity, wiping her brow. She had been like this for a couple of days, and she could swear that it was getting worse, not better. Damn stomach flu, she thought to herself, before grabbing the edge of the sink to help herself up. She stood up very slowly, and leaned over the sink, looking at herself in the mirror. Thank God I'm going to the doctor today, she thought, I can't take this anymore. She looked at the bags that were starting to develop under her eyes and worried; oh God please don't let it be what I think it is, she thought to herself. She opened the bathroom door to find Hyde standing there, a worried expression on his face.

"Jackie are you ok?" he said, his worry clearly showing in his voice.

"Yeah, Steven, I'm fine," she said rather brusquely.

"Jackie, are you sure that you're ok? I mean, you've been like this for the past of couple of days and-"

"I _said_ that I was fine, Steven!" she said forcefully, and pushed past him back to the room. Steven sighed; he knew that even though she said she was fine, she was really worried. He turned around and went back to the room, where Jackie was very quickly getting dressed, grabbing at things to wear. She finished dressing before he had even put his pants on, and she turned towards him.

"I have to go, Steven, but I'll back soon, ok?" Without even waiting for him to answer her, she left the room.

"Yeah, sure," he said, more to himself than to anyone else. He finished getting dressed, and decided that he needed a little circle time to himself to calm down. He sat and rolled himself a joint, opening a beer at the same time.

Jackie in the meantime had gone to Point Place General, where she had an appointment at the free clinic. She waited in line to get her paperwork, then waited in line to turn it in, then waited in a seat for the doctor to see her. By the time she had gotten to see the doctor, she was thoroughly irritated, having had to go to the bathroom to throw up already twice. She entered the exam room, sat on the exam table as the nurse had instructed her to, and waited for the doctor to enter.

"Hello, Miss Burkhart, my name is Doctor Stevens, and I'll be examining you today," said a young female doctor as she entered the room, a chart in hand. Jackie crossed her arms over herself, feeling self-conscious about why she was even there.

"So, what seems to be the problem, Miss Burkhart?"

"Didn't they tell you what my problem was?" Jackie snapped, feeling even more irritated and bothered than she already did. The doctor smiled at her, and said, in an understanding voice,

"Yes, Miss Burkhart, it's all here in the chart, but reading a piece of paper and hearing it from you are two completely different things. So, if you would please just tell me your symptoms, the quicker we can get you feeling better." Jackie uncrossed her arms, grabbing onto the table, and said, in a quiet voice,

"I think I'm pregnant."

"Ah, I see. What makes you think that you're pregnant?" the doctor asked, writing something down on the chart.

"Well, I'm about a week late, and the last three days I have been feeling so nauseous. I mean, it wakes me up in the morning, and I have to go to the bathroom it's so bad, and I end up puking my brains out." Jackie was so scared; she loved Steven, and they were back together but she still didn't know how he felt about children. Hell, she didn't even know how _she_ felt about children.

"Well, here's what we're going to do," the doctor said, as she moved to one of the cabinets and grabbed a small pad of paper. "I want you to go down to the lab, where they will take a blood sample and we'll test it for pregnancy."

"Doctor, do you think that I am?" Jackie asked in a small voice, the fear clearly showing through. The doctor smiled at her, and said,

"I know how scary this is, Miss Burkhart. I think that you are pregnant, but it is always best to be absolutely sure before I tell you what to do next." She wrote something down on the small pad of paper and tore off the first piece, handing it to Jackie. Jackie nodded her head, and left the exam room, heading down the hall to the lab. She handed the piece of paper to the receptionist, who told her to sit in the seat until she was called. Jackie sat down, clenching her hands together. She was terrified, how could she not be? But she decided not to tell Steven until she was absolutely sure, until she knew how he would react. 5 minutes later, a lab technician called her name, and had her sit in another seat in the lab. The technician then drew a small vial of blood and told Jackie that he was done. He then put a label on the vial and told Jackie she could leave.

"Excuse me, sir; do you know how long it will be before I know the results?"

"In about a week they should call you with the results," the technician answered her. Jackie thanked the man, and left the clinic, her head filled with thoughts of what the hell she was going to do next.

Steven waited for her, and when he heard the basement door close, he ran out of his room. Jackie stood there, her face whiter than he had ever seen it, and he got really worried. Where the hell had she been all day? Why did she look so scared? He approached her, and said,

"Jackie, what's wrong?" She looked up at him, and said, in a quiet voice,

"I went to the doctor today."

"And?"

"It's nothing, just a touch of the stomach flu, that's all," she said, recovering herself before he started asking more questions. She gave him a swift kiss on the cheek, and went up the stairs. He shook his head and followed her up.

A week later, Jackie finally got the phone call that she had been waiting for. She had been jumpy all week long, as everyone had noticed. She answered the phone every time it rang, driving the people calling to believe that Red and Kitty had finally moved to Florida until they answered the phone. She heard the phone ring in the kitchen, where she was eating breakfast alone, everyone else having gone to work, and she jumped up to answer it.

"Hello?" she asked, her voice shaky.

"Miss Jacqueline B. Burkhart?"

"Yes, this is she."

"Miss Burkhart, we have the results from your pregnancy test, and they're positive." Jackie stood there for a full ten seconds in complete shock, before she answered,

"Thank you." She listened to the person on the other line tell her that she would have to schedule an appointment with an obstetrician, and what diet she would have to eat, before she hung up the phone. She slumped against the wall for a second, thinking what she was going to do. She had been talking to Steven, dropping subtle questions about what he thought about children, and she was not happy. He had, as far as she could tell, indicated that he wanted children, but not at that point in time. She was confused, and she picked up the phone to call the only person who could possibly help her with this.

"Hello, Michael?"

Four hours later, Hyde was pulling into the Forman's driveway, tired after a long day of work. He got out of the car, locked it and headed for the basement. It was when he put his hand on the basement door handle that he heard two voices speaking in hushed voices. He put his ear to the door to hear better.

"Michael, he's going to be home any minute, and I have no idea what to tell him!"

"Jackie, just tell him the truth! He deserves to know what is going on!"

"Michael, I'm scared to tell him though! What if he totally freaks out?" Hyde had heard enough; he opened the door, to find Jackie standing right next to Michael. Jackie turned around, her face totally draining of color, and she said, in a soft voice,

"Steven."

"So what was it that you should be telling me, Jackie?"

"It's nothing really important, Steven, I swear." Hyde looked at her; inside he was dying. Didn't she trust him? But as soon as he thought that, he realized that he didn't trust her; what she was talking about with Kelso was way too suspicious for him.

"Nothing important, huh? What, nailing Kelso again? Is that the 'nothing really important' that you have to tell me?" Her face turned even whiter and she walked over to him, grabbing him by the shoulders.

"I swear it's not what you think it is, Steven. I am not sleeping with Kelso."

"Yeah, man, trust me she's not," Kelso said, a stupid grin on his face. Hyde looked at Jackie, before he shrugged her hands off his shoulders.

"I should have known better than to let you back in, you little back-stabbing slut."

"What? Steven, no!" Jackie yelled, tears starting to run down her face. She tried to grab hold of him, to make him stop, but he didn't want to listen to what she had to say, and he shrugged her off again.

"Whatever, Jackie. Do whatever the hell you want, I'm done with you. This time forever," he said, as he walked out the door and got in his car. Jackie followed him the whole way, with Kelso chasing behind her, screaming something unintelligible, but he didn't want to listen to any of it. He pulled his El Camino out of the driveway, and headed for the nearest bar to get completely shit-faced and lament his poor choice in women.

6 hours later, Hyde showed back up at the Formans'. He stumbled into the basement, and turned on the light to get to the bathroom, only to be confronted by Kelso, Donna, Eric, Fez, Kitty and Red all sitting waiting for him.

"Hey guys, what's up?" he said, his words slightly slurred.

"What the hell did you do to Jackie, Hyde?" Donna almost screamed at him. He was taken aback by what she had said and responded in an angry voice,

"What do you mean, what did I do to her? She's nailing Kelso behind my back but _I_ did something to _her_?!" It was at this point that Red decided to join the conversation, and very angrily at that.

"You stupid dumbass! She was talking to Kelso the idiot because he's the only one here who has a child, that she can actually somewhat relate to!" Hyde was taken aback by that statement; why would she be talking to Kelso about kids?

"Steven, honey, didn't you find it unusual that Jackie was that sick for the past week?" Kitty asked him, wringing her hands. Even in his drunken stupor, Steven knew that for Kitty to point it out meant that it was something super serious.

"N-no, she told me it was a touch of the stomach flu," he said, his voice faltering. Red shook his head, before lifting an angry finger at Hyde, and saying,

"You really are a dumbass, and you deserve a foot in your ass. You really think that Jackie had the stomach flu for a _week_? And what about how she jumped up to be the first to answer the phone every time it rang? What did you think about that, it didn't at all seem strange to you?"

"Hyde, seriously, at this moment, you _are_ Darth Vader, man," Eric said, shaking his head.

"Seriously, Hyde man, you _seriously_ thought that Jackie wanted me back? Actually, though I wouldn't mind that because damn man-"

"Shut up, Kelso!!" everybody yelled at him. Donna walked over to him, and put a hand on his shoulder, before she said,

"She's pregnant, Hyde." Hyde didn't say or do anything for a few seconds, before he said,

"She's… what?" He looked at Donna, who nodded her head. He looked at Kitty, who had tears shining in her eyes, at Red who was glaring at him, at Eric who was shaking his head, at Fez who was eating jellybeans, and at Kelso who was grinning like a moron, before Eric kicked him in the shins, whereupon he started to get serious. He turned back to Donna, and said, in a voice only she heard,

"Really? She's pregnant?" Donna nodded her head one more time, before Hyde collapsed into a chair, his hands covering his face. He sat like that for some time, before he raised his head and asked,

"Where is she?"

"That's the whole thing, Steven; we have no idea where she is. She just… left," Kitty said, tears rolling down her face.

"She left?"

"Yeah, Hyde, we were wondering if maybe you know where she went," Eric said, his voice betraying the worry he felt for the petite brunette.

"No, I have no idea. She moved back from Chicago when we got back together… oh my God, what the fuck have I done?!" Hyde said to himself, hiding his face behind his hands again. He hadn't even stopped to consider why Jackie would be talking to Kelso; he just assumed the worst, again. Kitty hugged him, and he felt her tears wet his jacket. Soon enough, his own tears were slowly running down his face, as everyone realized that he really didn't know where she possibly could have gone; she could be anywhere in the United States, and there were a lot of cities in the States. A lament went up from the group around him, as everyone in their own way started to grieve for Jackie. They missed the brunette already, and she hadn't even been gone half a day. He could have killed himself right then and there, but he decided against it, deciding instead to spend his time to try and find her, to bring her home, to bring her back to him.


	4. New York, New York

_December 31__st__, 2005 19:35_

Steven Hyde was already late for the company party in Manhattan. He looked at his watch for the 50th time in 10 minutes; he really needed to get to this party as fast as possible. It was a party that was thrown this New Year's by the competing record store company that wanted to buy him out. He just wanted to get there, get hammered and get home by January 3rd, not that there was much for him to go home to. An empty house was just that, an empty house. But still, it was his personal space, and he could really, truly be himself there. He sighed and looked at his watch again. He sat forward more, and tapped on the cabby's window.

"So are we almost there?"

"Yes sir, we're only about 5 blocks away," the cabby answered him. Hyde leaned back against his seat, and decided to just relax. He took out his iPod, and turned it on, playing one of his favorite songs, _Hanging on the Telephone_ by Blondie. He relaxed as he heard the first few chords of the guitar, along with Debbie Harry's haunting voice.

By the time the song had finished, he had arrived at the Waldorf Astoria, where the party was being held. He turned his iPod off, put it away and paid the cabby. He entered the grand building, which though very beautiful, was not his style at all. It was more her style… He shook his head, telling himself once again that he had searched everywhere for Jackie Burkhart for 15 years, and had never found even the smallest shred of evidence of where she could be. He was determined to have fun tonight; his definition of "fun" being getting plastered and having his friends from work find him some good whores for him to have a good time with.

He arrived at the party, a half hour late but he had shown up. He got to work eating some of the hors d'oeuvres, drinking some of the booze and schmoozing the big corporate guys. He knew that it was working the drunker he got, because he became freer when he was drunk; he didn't care about anything when he was drunk. He was ready to go back to his hotel by the time it was one in the morning; he knew that he had accomplished what he set out to do, as he had practically signed the contract to sell his store. He left the party with some of his coworker friends in one cab; they drove back to his hotel room, where they said that they had hired some good hookers.

They got to the hotel, and Hyde stumbled out of the cab, after paying the cabby. His friends went with him up to his room, where the girls already were and a few other coworkers who hadn't needed to go to the party. He opened the door to his room, and was greeted by two scantily clad women. They both kissed him on the cheek, and he let them lead him into the room. He saw some of his coworkers already passed out, either drunk or high. He let the two girls drag him towards the living room portion of the room, where there was another girl dancing for some of the guys, dressed in what he guessed were 15-cm high heeled boots, a tight-fitting black leather corset, fishnet stockings and a pair of black leather boy shorts. He looked at her, as she looked so damned familiar.

"Who's that?" he asked one of the girls, his words slurred. The blonde one looked at the girl, and in a voice seething with disgust said,

"Oh, her. That's that old lady, what was her name, Tabitha?" She turned towards the redhead, who said,

"How the hell should I know? She comes well recommended though, heard she's been in the business for like, 20-something years." Hyde looked at the woman, as that was what she obviously was, and he could have sworn that he knew her from somewhere. He approached her, as she was dancing. She stopped dancing and sat next to some of the guys, her back still turned to him. He could see that she was planting her face in the small bowl of cocaine that some of the guys had bought for themselves. She sucked a lot of it up, getting screams of disbelief from his coworkers, before she turned around and saw him. He looked straight into her mismatched blue and green eyes, and his eyes grew wider.

"Jackie?!" he said in disbelief. She shot up off the couch, and looked at him like she had seen a ghost.

"Steven!" she said in a whisper, before she fainted and crashed backwards onto the table. Everyone looked over to see what had happened, as Hyde jumped over the couch and picked her up off the table. He quickly laid her on top of the bed to see if she was ok. He ran his hands over her back, just to make sure that she didn't have any glass stuck in her back. She didn't seem to have any shards anywhere, which he thanked God for, before he turned her over. He cupped her face in his hands, and said, quietly so that no one else there would hear him,

"Jackie. Come on, Jackie, wake up. Wake up, my little ray of sunshine." He ran his thumb over her lips, the surest way to wake her up years ago. She stirred slightly, and opened her eyes very slowly.

"Steven?"

"Yeah, Jackie, it's me," he said, a tear running down his face. He had searched for her for 15 years, and 10 years ago he had given up the search, only to find her in New York. She looked at him, before she put a hand tentatively to his face, wiping away the tear, making sure that he was really in front of her, before throwing herself in his arms.

"Oh, Steven!" she cried out, as she hugged him tight to her. He held her to him, and stroked her hair, which hung lank down her back. He wanted to get her out of there, now. But where was he going to take her?

"Jackie, come on, let's go," he said, trying to carefully untangle her from his neck. But Jackie had a kung fu death grip on his neck, and wouldn't let go for the life of her. The redheaded girl looked at him, and said, in a condescending voice,

"When she gets like that I heard the only way to deal with her was to threaten her with violence." Hyde glared at her, and picked Jackie up in his arms, grabbing only her purse, which someone pointed out to him. He went towards the door, and only turned around when one of his coworkers asked him where he was going.

"I'm taking Jackie home," was all he said, and he opened the room door, leaving behind all of his coworkers and the hookers. It wasn't like they would really give a shit if he left or not; he was known for doing strange stuff like this. At the last New Year's party that they had had, he had gotten completely shit-faced and went to the water tower alone. He had sat there until the sun came up, and Eric had come to get him, having heard that Hyde was gone. Eric found him on the top of the water tower, passed out and completely naked, his clothes all over the place. Hyde had ended up catching the mother of all colds, as well as a massive hangover. But this, this was totally different. He looked down at the limp form in his arms, and he moved a little faster down the hallway. He had to get to his car, and just take her home, where she was wanted and still needed, even after 25 years. She had a _lot_ of questions to answer.

He got onto the elevator that would lead him down to the garage, and jabbed the button for the garage. The doors closed and down they went. A few seconds later, the doors opened, and he somehow fished the keys for the El Camino out of his pocket while still holding Jackie. He unlocked the passenger door and put Jackie carefully down in it. She stirred a little, muttering something. Her eyes opened for one second, staring straight at him, before they closed again. He looked down at Jackie, her head against the seat, her eyes flickering behind her eyelids, and he felt a cold rage start to build in the pit of his stomach. His hand tightened around the car door, before he closed the door and went over to the driver's side, opening his own door. He looked over at Jackie, passed out against the seat, and he turned the car on.

"I can't believe you did this to yourself, Jackie," he said, more to himself than to her, before he put the car in gear and left the garage. He wanted to get out of this damned city as soon as possible, and just take her back to Point Place. Back to the home that he had bought in anticipation of finding her, in anticipation of the family that he would have with her. He snorted to himself, so much for broken dreams, as he got on the highway that would lead him back to Point Place.


	5. Jackie's Black Balloon

_January 1__st__, 2006 7:27_

He had been driving all night, while she had slept. He was tired, as he no longer was the young kid he used to be, so he decided to pull over for a while, and sleep. He got off the highway at the next exit, and just pulled over to the side, making himself comfortable, making sure that Jackie was covered, and then he fell asleep.

He woke up some time later to the sound of some strange clinking noise and something being lit. He sat up straighter in his seat, and looked around, still groggy. What he saw when he opened his eyes made him see red, and wake up immediately.

"Jackie, what the fuck are you doing?" he asked her, in a deadly soft voice. She had a small flat slab mirror and a razor out, as well as a little plastic baggy with some larger white rocks in it. She had obviously taken a couple out and cut them up, because she had a pipe out. She brought the pipe to her lips, and lit it one more time, so high that she hadn't even heard him ask her anything. He couldn't watch her getting high, so he reached over and grabbed her pipe.

"What the fuck, man?" she said, her voice slurred, and she tried to reach over to grab the pipe back. He rolled down his window, and threw the pipe out. She screamed out, and tried to climb over him to get to her pipe. He pushed her back down into her seat, all while she was screaming,

"Get the fuck off me, man! What the fuck kinda shit was that, you took my damn pipe, you fucker! Give me my pipe back, man!" He pushed her further back into her seat, more forcefully this time, and said, in a gruff voice,

"Shut up and sit there." She did as she was told, the prostitute in her doing as she was told to do by a man. Yet another way that Jackie Burkhart had changed beyond any recognition; the old Jackie would have kicked him in the shin for telling her to shut up in that way. He fished the keys to the El Camino out of his pocket, and started the car. He drove away from the place where they had been parked, glad to be away from there. He got back onto the highway, and as soon as he had picked up some speed, he turned to her, hand outstretched, and said,

"Give me that mirror, razor and all that shit in that fucking plastic bag." She gathered it all up in her hands, and handed it over to him.

"What's wrong, Steven baby, are you gonna get high too? Cuz I'm gon' tell you righ' now, that shit, it ain't that great." He took all the stuff she had handed to him, and started to throw it out the window. The first thing he threw out was the little baggy, and she didn't even register that he had done this, until he threw out the mirror and razor a half kilometer later.

"Hey, what the fuck do you think you're doing? Do you know how much that shit cost me? That was like, four jobs worth of fucking dope!" She yelled angrily at him, but he didn't care what she said. He needed to get that stuff away from her, and he needed to get her home as soon as possible, so that she could recover. He turned to her, and as much as he didn't want to do this, he had to.

"Jackie, so help me God, if you do not sit there and shut the fuck up, I _will_ get violent." It broke his heart to do this, but from what he had seen, and heard from those hooker "friends" of hers in New York, this was the only way to deal with her when she was like this. And her reaction was immediate; she mumbled something and put her head against the back of the seat. Within a few minutes he heard her mumbling something incoherent, and soon after heard snoring. Good, at least I'll get some peace and quiet now, he thought to himself.

Four hours later, he was still driving and she was still snoring. He was starting to wonder when she was going to wake up, as well as starting to get worried. He decided to pull over once more, so he got off on the next exit. He pulled over into a gas station, and left her in there while he pumped gas. He put the hose in, and left it in there, while he opened the passenger side door. He caught her when she almost fell out, and put her back into the car, grabbing her purse. He opened it, and looked around to make sure that she had no more drugs. He found a ratty pack of cigarettes, a wallet that she had had when she left Point Place, he was sure of it, which had an identification card in it, and twenty dollars in singles. She also had a cd in there, in a jewel case. He pulled it out, and opened it, where it said Jackie's mix on the front of the cd. He put it under his arm, and kept going through her bag, finding nothing else but a few receipts from some fast food restaurants, along with some business cards, mostly men's. He took all those business cards out, and ripped them all up, his anger at what these men had done to her fueling him. He found no sort of drugs, so he put the cd back in her bag, put the bag back on top of her lap, and finished pumping the gas. He then got back in the car, and after checking her to make sure that she was still breathing, he drove away to get back on the highway.

Once back on the highway, he rolled down his window to feel the breeze whip across him, and also to get rid of some of the smell of that nasty shit that she had smoked. He looked over at the clock, and saw that it was nearing one o'clock. He'd been out of New York almost 12 hours and he still had a ways to go to get to Point Place. Of course, he wasn't about to show up there with a very high and fucked up Jackie Burkhart, so he had been purposely driving in circles around Pennsylvania, just to try to get her sobered up as much as possible. He couldn't believe that this is what had happened to his little ray of sunshine, that she had fallen this far. He looked over at her, and pushed a few strands of hair that had fallen across her face back behind her ear. Within a second of being touched, she shot up like a bullet, so fast that she startled him. He swerved a little in the lane, before regaining control, while she said,

"Who are you? Why are you touching me?" Her eyes swiveled back and forth quickly, before they rested on him. She reached a hand out, and touched his cheek.

"Steven?" she asked, her voice so quiet that he barely heard it. "No, you can't be Steven, he's gone." She curled up into a ball on the seat, and started rocking back and forth. She kept repeating, "He's gone, he's gone," in a voice broken by sobs, and he decided that it was time to pull over once more. He saw that there was no exit nearby, so he just pulled off on the shoulder, and turned the car off. Jackie had not even noticed that they had stopped; she had continued to rock herself and to repeat her mantra.

"Jackie," he said, reaching over to her. She turned towards him, and he could see that she didn't even really see him, or if she did, that she didn't believe it was real. He touched her shoulder, and she looked straight into his eyes. Her pupils were so dilated that her eyes had changed color, becoming more midnight black than the brilliant blue and green they normally were. Her eyes had become pools of darkness, so full of pain and sadness, that as he looked into them he could literally feel himself falling in.

"Jackie," he said once more, softer this time.

"Steven?"

"Yeah, Jackie, it's me."

"Oh, Steven!" she yelled, as she threw herself into his arms, sobbing hysterically. The tears started to soak through his shirt, but he would be damned if he told her to get off; he only wrapped his arms tighter around her, and let her cry herself out. He heard her hysterical sobs slow down some, until all he heard was sniffling. He stroked her hair, which felt so different than it had 25 years ago; her hair now was lank, greasy and thin, something the Jackie Burkhart he had known would _never_ let happen. Suddenly, she shot up, hitting her head on his chin, making stars appear before his eyes, but she was unfazed.

"My cd! I need my cd!" She grabbed up her purse, and took out the jewel case he had seen earlier. She took the thin plastic disc out, and without even asking him, put it into the stereo. She settled back into the seat, and seemed to relax as the first few chords of a guitar could be heard coming through the speakers. Hyde looked at her in complete shock; hadn't she just been crying ridiculously? He shook his head, and took out his pack of smokes, lighting one up as the song started.

_Baby's black balloon makes her fly  
I almost fell into that hole in your life  
And you're not thinking 'bout tomorrow  
'Cause you were the same as me  
But on your knees_

She started to sing along, and he just decided to sit there and wait it out.

_A thousand other boys could never reach you  
How could I have been the one?  
I saw the world spin beneath you  
And scatter like ice from the spoon  
That was your womb_

_Comin' down the world turned over  
And angels fall without you there  
And I go on as you get colder  
Or are you someone's prayer_

"Why did you come back for me, Steven?" she asked, without even turning towards him. He took a drag of his cigarette, and slowly blew out the smoke while he said,

"I didn't." She turned towards him; he was still the same, even after 25 years. He could never admit that he had any emotions; he had to be the Zenmaster. She narrowed her eyes, before she said,

"So what the hell were you doing in New York?" He took another drag, and said,

"Business meeting. I just happened to go to a party, and there you were."

_You know the lies they always told you  
And the love you never know  
What's the things they never showed you  
That swallow the light from the sun  
Inside your room, yeah_

She huffed a little, and shook her head.

"You never are going to change, are you? You're still the same Steven Hyde, even after 25 years. Why did you take me away from there? What difference does it make to you what the hell I do with my own life?"

"It really doesn't. I just didn't want to watch you get felt up by God knows how many men, and I just-I couldn't stand to see you like that, Jackie," he finally said, his voice breaking slightly, though his face remained totally impassive.

"Why, Steven? 25 years later, and you think that I should care what you think? You think that you have any _right_ to take me away from what I know? What, because we shared _one year_ together and another month after our little one-night stand on New Year's eve?" Her voice was cracking, it was so full of emotion. All at the same time she wanted to hit him and to cry and to kiss him, it was dizzying. She hadn't felt this much emotion in a long, long time, that it was actually physically painful to feel.

_Comin' down the world turned over  
And angels fall without you there  
And I go on as you get colder  
Always someone_

"No, I really don't have any right to tell you to do anything, Jackie. I was a complete and utter ass to you for two whole years after the whole Chicago thing. But then, I don't know man, it was like seeing you in New York after so many years, when everyone had told me not to even look for you because no one knew what had happened to you, and I really wasn't trying to, but I did. And then reality hit me, and I couldn't leave you there. I just-I couldn't." He looked at her, her eyes searching his impassive face, before he took off his glasses and looked her full in the eyes. He was letting her in again, and her heart, so long closed off from everything, started to slowly beat again. There was a voice in her head that told her not to trust him, he was a man, and he had a track record of hurting her, but the other voice, the voice that had been whispering for 25 years that no matter how much she tried to convince herself she didn't love him when she did, told her that he wasn't going to hurt her this time, not like before. He was older, so was she, and that was the past.

"So why did you take me away from my home, Steven?"

"I didn't take you _away_ from home, Jackie, I'm _taking_ you home." Her breath hitched a little at this statement; was he really going to take her back to Point Place? _Could_ she even go back there?

_And there's no time left for losin'  
When you stand they fall_

"Steven, I don't feel so good," was the only thing that Jackie managed to say, before she threw up all over him and the seat. He jumped back a little, and tried to get her to throw up the other way, but there was no stopping her. It was as if he had turned on the fountain of puke, and it took all of his willpower to not throw up as well, but just try to keep out of the way as much as possible. He could only hope that she would stop soon, so that he could start to clean up a little. She stopped after the third time, pulling herself back against the seat, tears running down her face.

"Steven, I'm so sorry," she said, her voice hoarse. She grabbed her purse, and started looking through it, unzipping some secret compartment he had missed. She took out a packet of wet wipes, and started to clean it up, before he put his hand on top of hers, and said, in a quiet voice,

"Leave it, Jackie." She looked up at him, in shock, before she said,

"I can't just leave it, I have to clean it up. It's my fault, so I should at least clean it up." He sighed, running a hand through his hair, before he said,

"No, Jackie, it's not your fault. You couldn't control what your body was doing. Anyways, a few wet wipes isn't going to cut it, we have to do a serious cleaning now. So just leave it for now, or help me get as much as you can, and then we're gonna have to pull over somewhere. Hopefully soon," he said, "before this smell absolutely gags me to death." She giggled a little, and deep inside his heart warmed the tiniest fraction; Jackie Burkhart wasn't completely gone, just forgotten. She could still be recovered, and that was all that mattered to him. She picked up as much of the vomit as she could with the few wet wipes that she had, and threw them out the window, while he started up the car. He also reached over and opened the glove box, taking out a rag that he kept in there to wipe away condensation on the windshield. She took it and cleaned up as much of the vomit off the seat as she could, which left the rag completely soaked. She looked at him, as if asking him what she should do with it. He nodded towards the window, and she threw it out.

_Comin' down the world turned over  
And angels fall without you there  
And I go on as you get colder_

He put his glasses back on, put the car in gear, and they took off, back on the highway. She looked at him, and said,

"Thank you, Steven."

"For what, Jackie?"

"For that. For not beating the crap out of me for puking everywhere." He nodded his head, while inside he seethed at the motherfucker who beat her for puking in his car; yeah, it was disgusting, but she couldn't control it. He knew what it was from, and she definitely could not control when she was going to throw up. All he wanted to do was find that fucker, and beat the ever-living shit outta him with a fucking baseball bat to the head and-

"I'm dying, Steven," Jackie said, cutting across his thoughts. He looked over at her, before turning his head back to the road; no need to kill the both of them right now.

"What do you mean, Jackie? I mean, we're all dying in some way, but I don't-"

"No, Steven, I'm really dying," she said, turning her head back to the scenery passing by. "I have AIDS, probably had it for years, and never known it."

"AIDS? Come on, Jackie, how can you-"

"Be so sure? I already got checked out at the clinic in Brooklyn. They gave me 6 months, maybe a year more." She wiped a tear away, and all he wanted to do was die himself. How could she be dying? She had been the strongest of the entire group, the one who everyone had thought would have been the most successful. Yeah, she was a pain in the ass like 99 percent of the time, especially when they had dated, but she was really smart, though she never let that shine through to most people. She was always strong, even after he had rejected her for that stupid stripper Sam, and always helped those she loved most. Hell, she still hung around the basement even though he was a complete ass to her, even though Donna had abandoned her for Sam, even though Eric and Kelso were gone, and she took every burn he threw at her, not wanting to leave the place, and people, she had been happiest with. Now, look at what had happened to her. She was dying from a disease that she had most likely gotten from her line of "work", and the thought was killing him. He saw the road becoming blurry, his breath hitched in his chest, and he couldn't think straight. She was dying, dying, dying, she was dying; he repeated it over and over in his own head. He looked over at her, and saw that, though there was no sound, she was crying almost hysterically. It was at that moment that Steven Hyde decided to become her rock, just as she had been his almost 30 years ago, the one he turned to, the one who knew his deepest, darkest secrets. He would become the same thing that she had been to him; a fountain of love and hope.

_All because I'm  
Comin' down the years turn over  
And angels fall without you there  
And I'll go and lead you home and  
All because I'm  
All because I'm  
And I'll become  
What you became to me_


	6. Click Clock, Mon Amour

**A/N: The song in this chapter is "Click Clock" by a fantastic singer, In-grid. Anyhoo, please enjoy, and if anyone speaks French better than I do, because it has been about 6 years and I have forgotten a lot, your input on this chapter would be greatly appreciated!**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own That 70's Show! If I did, I would be rich, and I would have fired the person who came up with Season 8!  
**

_January 1__st__, 2006 12:46_

She fished the ratty pack of cigarettes out of her purse, took out a cigarette, and lit it up. She rolled down the window, while another song came on.

_Suis mes pas très vite sur la scène de mon corps  
Il est là près_

What the hell is this shit? Hyde thought to himself. Is this in _French_? Since when does she know French? He looked over at Jackie, who was taking a drag of her cigarette. She blew the smoke out the window, and started to sing along.

_Sur le cliquetis de mon coeur tu dancerais toute la nuit  
Si tu feras mouche, alors tu auras ma bouche et moi ta touche  
Au pas cadencé tu vas troubler tout ton passé_

"Jackie, since when do you know French?" he asked her, as he listened to her sing the song. She turned her head towards him, and looked at him as if he had hit his head. She started laughing, and said,

"My maternal grandmother was French, and was adamant that I know 'la langue de ma mere', so I grew up speaking French. After she died, my mother pretty much stopped giving a shit about me, as before my grandmother had constantly been on her case. She did make sure that I still knew French, though, maybe the only good thing that Pam did for me." She took another drag of her cigarette, and continued to sing, rewinding the song until it got to the part that she had missed.

_Le click et le clock ce soir  
Rythme de mon coeur  
Musique de mon bonheur  
Le click et le clock ce soir  
Joie de mon amour  
Dance de notre jour_

Hyde just kept driving, and he actually found the song interesting. He had no idea what the woman was singing about, but he liked it. By the way she was singing, he had a slight idea that it was about love; that, and he heard the word "amour", which he definitely knew. He would ask Jackie what the song meant as soon as it finished. For now, he let her keep singing along.

_Quand je te réveille dans le mou de mon lit, le jour après  
Toi qui a changé le coeur ton chemin, reste calin!  
Donne libre cours à ta joie et brise tout, ça vaut le coup!  
Ouvre-moi la porte de tes désirs, suis tes soupirs_

She wiped at a tear that escaped, the one tear of the many that she was holding back. She understood this song perfectly, and it was like every single song that she loved beyond comprehension had to do with _him_. Everything, all of them, there was not one that didn't in some way remind her of Steven Hyde. 25 years might have passed, but she was still in love with him. No, she corrected herself, I _never _stoppedlovinghim. She looked over at him out of the corner of her eye, and saw that he too was looking at her. She knew that she had changed a lot; hell, he had changed a lot too. It only took him 25 years to come out to New York and get her, but at least he came.

_Le click et le clock ce soir  
Rythme de mon coeur  
Musique de mon bonheur  
Le click et le clock ce soir  
Joie de mon amour  
Dance de notre jour_

_Fais attention, le chemin n'est pas fait!  
Replonge toi dans le corps qui t'aidait!  
Mon chéri, laisse ta vie qui est brouillée!_

Her tears started falling thickly now; there was no way that she could stop them. He looked over at her crying, and in a split second, decided it was best to pull over. He pulled the El Camino over, and she suddenly opened the door, emptying the contents of her stomach onto the pavement. He held her head back as her stomach threw out all the poison that she had stuffed into it, and the smell of vomit mixed with the smell of strawberries. She finished retching, and he helped pull her back into the car. This was the reason he had decided to get her the hell out of New York when he saw her; this was _not _the Jackie Burkhart that he had once known, he didn't know who this person was. But he was hell-bent on figuring out what had happened to the Jackie that he knew, and he knew that through the ride she would slowly tell him.

_Le click et le clock ce soir  
Rythme de mon coeur  
Musique de mon bonheur  
Le click et le clock ce soir  
Joie de mon amour  
Dance de notre jour_

_Le click et le clock ce soir  
Rythme de mon coeur  
tip tap de mon bonheur  
Le click et le clock ce soir  
clé de mon amour  
cliquetis pour toujours_

She looked up at him, and whispered,

"Thank you, Steven." He nodded, and put the El Camino back into gear, pulling back onto the highway. He noticed that she started the song again, singing it with the tears streaming down her face while she lit another cigarette. He shifted uncomfortably, and asked,

"So, what exactly is this song about?" She turned towards him, surprised that he even asked. Nobody had bothered to ask Jackie anything about her life or why she liked certain things the way she did in about 26 years. She had gotten used to keeping everything hidden, so now to open up about this song to the person that it was about was one of the hardest things she ever had to do.

"It's about you, Steven." He looked over at her, at the hair whipping across her face, and saw straight into those mismatched eyes. He knew she was telling the truth by the way they shone, the way they betrayed their deepest secrets to him, just as they had when they had been together, some 26 years ago. He turned his head back to the road, and said,

"So what exactly is it about this song that makes it about me?" She turned her head back towards the scenery, and curled her knees up under her chin, like she used to do.

"Everything." They sat in silence for a few more miles, Hyde waiting to hear the rest of her response, Jackie just wanting to disappear into her own world once more. It was easier that way anyways. Hyde wasn't giving up though, and after he saw that she wouldn't say anymore on her own, he resolved to make her tell him more.

"So what exactly is she singing about?"

"Love. In the worst sense of the word, love."

"What do you mean, in the worst sense of the word?"

"Well, you see, there are certain things that she says that are about the purest form of love, that just make it your song."

"Like? Come on, Jackie, you know that I don't know French, otherwise I wouldn't be asking you." She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, and said, so softly he almost didn't hear it,

"Yeah, I know. I wish you did though, it would make it so much easier." She shifted in her seat once more, turning more towards him. She fast forwarded to one very specific part, and turned to him.

"Like this part, where she says _Ouvre-moi la porte de tes désirs, suis tes soupirs, _it means open the door of your desires for me, following your sighs. That was all I ever wanted from you, to just be your everything, to know every single desire of yours, and to end up being the greatest of your desires." Hyde wanted to kick himself in the nuts for this one; didn't she realize that she was _always_ the one that knew every desire of his? For fuck's sake, she _was_ his desire, from the first moment that he had met her, though in the beginning he never would have admitted that to her. Hell, he would have a hard time admitting it to her now, if she asked.

"And see, this part here," she continued, fast forwarding some more, "in this part she says '_Le click et le clock ce soir, rythme de mon coeur, tip tap de mon bonheur, le click et le clock ce soir, clé de mon amour, cliquetis pour toujours' _ she's basically saying 'the tick and the tock of tonight, the rhythm of my heart, the tip tap of my happiness, the tick and the tock of tonight, the key of my love, chattering forever'. To me, it means you." She looked at him, her eyes shining. He looked quickly at her, his heart breaking slowly inside of him. After so many years, all the shit that he put her through, she was basically telling him that she was still so in love with him, that he still held the keys to her heart. She was basically telling him that no matter what, no matter what had happened in the past, she still loved him. She might as well have just killed him.

"It reminds me of the time you took me to Junior Prom, Steven. At the time, I didn't even realize it, but I was already madly in love with you."

_Flashback – Junior Prom_

She drove up to his house, her heart pounding in her chest. She looked at the place that he lived in, and was slightly disgusted. Hyde lived _here_? Wow, she thought to herself, no wonder he never wants anyone over. She parked the car in the driveway, and walked up to the front door. She knocked on it, and quickly afterwards wiped her glove off on the back of her dress. She heard a female voice yelling something in the background, and then she heard Hyde.

"Shut up, Ma, you're making the night too damn special!" He opened the door, a golden box in his hands, and said,

"Hey." He stopped then, and looked her over. "Wow, you look beautiful." She blushed a little, before saying,

"Oh my God, so do you. Ummm… do you want me to go inside and meet your-"

"No, no, no, trust me, she's lovely." He took her arm and led her away to the car, and off they were to Junior Prom.

When they arrived, he parked the car, and they sat there for a minute, both contemplating whether or not they should go in. Hyde turned towards her, and said,

"So, you wanna go in or do you just want to keep sitting in here?" She turned towards him, and hastily said,

"Huh, what? Oh, yeah, sure let's go inside," and quickly, she thought to herself, before I change my mind and want _you_ instead of Michael. He got out of the car, closed the door, and went around to Jackie's side, opening her door for her. She got out of the car, and he closed the door behind her. They stood next to each other for a moment, not sure what to do, before Hyde held his arm out for Jackie and she took it. They walked into the gym, and they both internally prepared themselves for what was about to happen.

They walked through the gym doors, and everyone turned to stare at them. The staring made Hyde uncomfortable, so he turned to Jackie and said,

"You wanna dance?" She looked up at him, her eyes shining slightly, before she shyly moved her head up and down once. He took her hand and led her out onto the dance floor. He could feel his heart beating faster, but he refused to let her see that she affected him so deeply, while she was barely able to breathe. She stood next to him on the dance floor, and he put one hand on her waist, the other holding her hand. She shyly put her hand on his shoulder, and they started to dance to the song playing, as everyone stared at the two of them dancing, though to Jackie the two of them might as well have been the only people in the room. He dances so well, she thought to herself; I wonder why he doesn't do it more often. He sashayed her across the entire floor, smoothly leading her wherever their feet took them. He looked into her eyes and got lost, the blue/green eyes seeming to stare straight into his soul, reading him like an open book. He wanted to stop, he needed to stop, otherwise he was going to kiss her and never give her back to Kelso, ever. So as soon as the song finished, he led her over to a table, making her sit while he went to go get a drink for her. He went over to the drink table, pouring himself a generous helping of the rum-spiked punch, chuckling as he knew that the chemistry teacher herself had spiked the punch. He poured her a drink as well, and then turned around. That's when he saw it.

She sat there with Kelso, talking to him with a hidden smile on her face. She had totally forgotten about him, just like everyone else. He couldn't help but for some reason feel a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. He really shouldn't have expected her to pick him over Kelso, he was just a piece of white trash to her; she had only used him to go to prom so that she could make Kelso jealous. He put down the drinks, and turned around, fully ready to just leave this damned stupid dance, when he spotted Pam Macy all by her lonesome self. He smiled slightly to himself; if Jackie wanted to play that game, he knew all about it, and right now, he was going to go get himself some. He invited Pam to go "see" the backseat of the Lincoln, not caring that he was about to most likely ruin Jackie's backseat, not caring about anything. That was why he never looked back, never saw the haunted look in Jackie's eyes when Kelso wasn't looking, never saw the brief look of disappointment in her eyes, before she returned to Kelso. After all, the two of them, Jackie Burkhart and Steven Hyde, came from two completely different worlds that would never cross paths. At least, that's what she kept telling herself when she was dancing with Kelso, wishing that it was somebody else's hands holding her, wishing that his eyes were the crystal blue of the sky. It was for the best, she told herself; it was for the best that they had gone their separate ways. So why couldn't she truly convince herself that it was?

_Le click et le clock ce soir  
Rythme de mon coeur  
Musique de mon bonheur  
Le click et le clock ce soir  
Joie de mon amour  
Dance de notre jour_

_End Flashback_

"Why does this song remind you of Junior Prom? And how were you already 'madly in love' with me, when the same night you got back together with Kelso?" he asked, totally confused now. She looked at him as if he had hit his head again, or as if he were a little kid who needed to be told something that he should have realized already.

"Steven, you really are so silly sometimes. I got back with Michael because he was _safe_, at least to me."

"Safe? In what way has that man _ever_ been safe?"

"He was safer than what I was starting to feel for you. Like when I put my head in your lap and started fake crying to convince you to take me to prom, I just, I-I don't know how to explain it. It was like I was hot and cold all at once, icy on the inside but the touch of your skin against mine, it was so searing hot. I could feel it melting my flesh, and that was when I realized that I really had to get Michael back that night, if nothing else than to stop feeling what I was. To me, it wasn't natural, because I was supposed to be in love with Michael. So I had to work fast, to get you out of my system. Then, you danced with me, and Michael just disappeared, and my heart started beating so fast, I thought it was going to explode. That was the first time that I really wanted to be the one going home with you that night, to stay with you. That's what this song reminds me of, how you will always hold the keys to my heart, how I handed them to you that night without even knowing it." He sat there in shock, listening to her explain all this. He knew exactly how she felt; he knew what she was talking about, down to the last detail, even 30 years later. It was the weirdest thing to him at the time, because when she had started crying in his lap, he had had the strangest desire to just kiss the living breath out of her. At the prom, when she got back with Kelso, all he wanted to really do was go and punch the guy out. He hated him deep down for having cheated on Jackie, and with Pam Macy of all people. He was wrapped up in these thoughts as he drove on, with Jackie continuously singing the song, staring out at the scenery around them, as the song went on.

_Le click et le clock ce soir  
Rythme de mon coeur  
tip tap de mon bonheur  
Le click et le clock ce soir  
clé de mon amour  
cliquetis pour toujours_


	7. Behind These BlueGreen Eyes

**A/N: The song is "Behind These Hazel Eyes" by Kelly Clarkson. Please enjoy, and reviews are always appreciated!**

_January 1__st__, 2006 12:50_

He saw an exit coming up, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He wanted to get his car cleaned out as much as possible, because it was really starting to stink. The vomit was drying on the carpet, and he wanted to get it off as soon as possible. He had about a mile left to the next exit, so he decided to sit back and enjoy Jackie's music. The next song came on, and he thought it sounded familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

_Seems like just yesterday  
You were a part of me  
I used to stand so tall  
I used to be so strong_

He looked over at Jackie, who was still puffing on her cigarette, with tears still rolling down her cheeks. He knew what this song was about; it wasn't like it took a genius to figure it out. He readjusted himself in his seat, and waited anxiously to get to the exit.

_Your arms around me tight  
Everything, it felt so right  
Unbreakable, like nothin' could go wrong  
Now I can't breathe  
No, I can't sleep  
I'm barely hanging on_

"Do you ever even wonder what happened to me, Steven?" she asked, taking a drag of her cigarette. He gripped the steering wheel a little harder; was she _serious_?! He asked himself what had happened to her every single day since she had disappeared, literally dropped off the face of the earth.

"What do you want me to say, Jackie? 'No, Jackie I wasn't concerned where you went, you dropped off the face of the planet, but I knew you were fine'? Of _course_ I wondered what the hell happened to you! You were there one day, perfectly fine, then you just up and disappeared!" He gripped the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles turned white; she was starting to infuriate him. He sat in silence until they reached the exit. He exited, coming off the ramp a lot faster than he wanted to, and pulled into the nearest gas station, which thankfully had a car wash. She reached over to turn off the radio, and sat in the car while he got out to talk to whoever was going to wash the car.

Hyde came up to a younger man, and said,

"Do you do complete car washes, I mean cleaning the carpets and everything?" The kid, which is what he obviously was, looked up at him and said,

"Yeah. You want the works on your car?"

"Yeah, make sure that you clean it up good, my girlfriend had a little… accident on the way," Hyde said, his voice quiet. The kid nodded his head, and motioned for Hyde to drive his car into the carwash. Hyde walked back to his car, started it up and drove it in. He motioned to Jackie that she had to get out, but she hesitated.

"What is it now, Jackie?" Hyde asked, in an irritated voice. She looked at him, the hurt showing clearly in her eyes for half a second, so fast he almost didn't see it, before she snapped at him,

"I was thinking that maybe you wouldn't want me to walk outside like _this_," and she motioned to the clothes she was wearing, before continuing, "but I guess that you wanted to get a free carwash. Well, give me about 10 minutes with that kid, and he'll be eating out of the palm of my hand." Hyde looked at her, his eyes blazing behind his sunglasses, before he got out of the car. Jackie sat there for a moment, surprised that he hadn't answered her, before she was suddenly hit with a fuzzy brown thing. She got it off her face and realized it was a blanket. She smiled slightly, before she wrapped herself in it. She got out of the car and wrapped it tighter around herself, knowing that some of her boots would still be showing. Oh well, she thought to herself, at least I don't look like a total tramp. She turned towards the waiting area and sat down next to Hyde, who was reading a magazine. They sat there for the whole half hour that it took to finish washing the car, not saying one word to each other. Once the car was finished, Hyde paid the guy, and motioned for Jackie to get back in the car. She did so, handing him the blanket once she was sitting inside. Hyde threw the blanket back into the flatbed, and got in the car, noticing that Jackie was waiting for him. He turned on the car and she turned on the radio. He noticed that the smell of the vomit was gone, and he was at least glad of that. One less thing to worry about, he thought to himself. He was realizing that he would have a lot of things to worry about by the time they reached Point Place.

_Here I am, once again  
I'm torn into pieces  
Can't deny it, can't pretend  
Just thought you were the one  
Broken up, deep inside  
But you won't get to see the tears I cry  
Behind these hazel eyes_

"So whatever happened, Jackie?" She looked over at him, as he put the car in gear. He drove back onto the highway, his face impassive. She scrutinized him, before turning back to the scenery and answering.

"Nothing. I went to New York, things didn't exactly work out the way I planned, so I had to start doing what I had to do to survive." He shook his head, before he said in a voice laced with venom,

"No, Jackie, what the hell happened to you and my kid?" Her head whipped back around to look at him; he _knew_?! Oh, she was in for it now!

"Nothing," she said her voice very small and afraid.

"What the hell do you mean _nothing_?! You were jumpy as hell that last week, you got a phone call and you called _Kelso_?! Did you think that I would never figure out what had happened?" he yelled at her.

"No, it wasn't like that, Steven! But you as usual just jumped to conclusions before you even let me tell you what had happened!" she yelled back at him.

"I _know_ that, Jackie! After you left, everyone jumped me for you leaving! They told me, not you, that you were pregnant! What kind of shit was that Jackie?! You couldn't even tell me that you were pregnant with my kid, even after all the stuff that I told you?"

_I told you everything  
Opened up and let you in  
You made me feel alright  
For once in my life_

"Dammit, Steven, it wasn't like that! Don't you remember me asking you what you thought about kids? Do you remember that? Do you remember telling me that you weren't ready for kids? I remember what happened the last time that I tried to pressure you into something you weren't ready for; you _left _me!" she screamed, her chest heaving. Her eyes were over bright and as large as an owl's. She had sweat forming all along her brow, and he could tell that being this flustered was not good for her. He swallowed his pride, and said in a much calmer voice,

"So you couldn't even come and tell me? Jackie, maybe I wouldn't have reacted how you think. Jesus, Jackie, I searched for you for 15 years after you left. I had this dream, this vision, that I would find you, sweep you off your feet, and bring you home with me. I bought a fucking _house_ for us and the family I planned on having with you! A three-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath house with a porch and everything. I even had one of the rooms made up as a nursery for the baby, because I didn't think that it would take me any longer than a whole two weeks, at most a month, to find you. I searched for you for _15 years_. Eric and Donna finally convinced me that I was never going to find you, if you weren't dead already, to just give up searching for you. They told me that 15 years without a shred of evidence as to where you and the baby were, you were both probably dead. They finally made me take apart the nursery, and let me tell you something Jackie, I cried the whole 4 hours that it took us to take it apart. I had spent 15 years hoping and praying that I would find you and taking apart that nursery was like taking apart my dream. I _mourned_ you, for two years without stop. Do you know what that was like for me?"

_  
Now all that's left of me  
Is what I pretend to be  
So together, but so broken up inside  
'Cause I can't breathe  
No, I can't sleep  
I'm barely hangin' on_

Jackie looked over at him, Steven Hyde, looking straight ahead with an impassive look on his face, but he had just let her deeper in than he had probably let anyone in a very long time. She could feel the emotions when he talked, when he talked about his broken dreams. Hell, she was one to know about broken dreams. She snorted to herself, thinking back on the naïve girl who had come to New York, chasing a dream of being a famous TV star with a child on the way. Oh yeah, she thought to herself, I know about broken dreams.

_Here I am, once again  
I'm torn into pieces  
Can't deny it, can't pretend  
Just thought you were the one  
Broken up, deep inside  
But you won't get to see the tears I cry  
Behind these hazel eyes_

"Jackie, all I want to know is how did you manage to stay under the radar for so long? And why New York?" Jackie swallowed, here came the hard part.

"I didn't want you to find me. I wanted to make it on my own, so that I could come back to Point Place, and show you that I wasn't this spoiled little rich brat that everyone thought I was. I wanted to be successful, to show you that I didn't need you. I wanted you to want me for _me_. I don't know how else to explain it," she said, wringing her hands together.

"A part of me was still so in love with you, Steven, that the fact you even _thought_ I went back to Michael ate me alive inside. The other part hated you for thinking that. I hated you enough at that point to never want to come back, or if I did come back, to be something that you could never touch again, like a cold marble statue. I wanted to make you suffer the way you had made me suffer. After all these years, it stills stings; it's still a deep infection within me, the hatred. I can't stop hating you overnight, but I never stopped loving you either," she said, her voice ringing clear as crystal.

_Swallow me then spit me out  
For hating you, I blame myself  
Seeing you it kills me now  
No, I don't cry on the outside  
Anymore...  
_

He sighed; he knew that he had screwed it all up. His jealousy and constant insecurity had driven even Jackie away; Jackie, the one who had always fought for their love, even when he had given up on it totally. She was the one who brought him back to her loving arms every time, she was the one who made him feel like life was worth it, like there was more to it than booze and fast women and getting high. She was the one who really made him _live_, and as usual, he had fucked it all up.

_Here I am, once again  
I'm torn into pieces  
Can't deny it, can't pretend  
Just thought you were the one  
Broken up, deep inside  
But you won't get to see the tears I cry  
Behind these hazel eyes  
_

"Jackie, what ever happened to the baby? What happened to the two of you?" he asked, his voice very soft. He knew he had no right to ask, but he wanted to know. He heard her sigh audibly, letting it out with a sob.

"Jaimee? I haven't talked about her in something like 23 years," she said, her voice wobbly and he could tell she was holding back tears. So he had a daughter, what had happened to her that Jackie didn't want to talk about her? Was she dead?

"I gave her up for adoption, Steven. I was so young, and I really didn't think that she deserved to watch me go down my downwards spiral; I had watched Pam do it, and I would be damned if my child experienced that. So when I realized that I couldn't support her anymore, I gave her up, and it has hurt every day since." She lit up another cigarette, drowning herself in the smoke, drowning out the memories. He understood now why she did the drugs; they were her escape from reality, just like her music was the escape to her younger days and the man that she loved more than life itself.

_Here I am, once again  
I'm torn into pieces  
Can't deny it, can't pretend  
Just thought you were the one  
Broken up, deep inside  
But you won't get to see the tears I cry  
Behind these hazel eyes_


	8. Dream On, Jackie

**A/N: I am so, so sorry that it took me so long to update, but my sister lost my list of songs that I had planned out for the rest of this story, so I had to start all over again, as I couldn't for the life of me remember what I had put on that list. Anyhoo, quick disclaimer, and on to the show: I do not own anything, if I did I would be rich, I am not, so please don't sue me. And as always, remember folks, reviews are deeply appreciated! Oh, and the song is "Dream On" by Aerosmith. And one more thing, I know nothing about NYC unfortunately, so anyone from there, I am so sorry if I got some of the places mixed up, but please pardon me, I haven't been to New York just yet!  
**

_January 1__st__, 2006 13:34_

He sat back, watching her smoke her cigarette, before he lit one of his own. He had a daughter out there somewhere, and he wanted to find her but he had no idea where to start. Where would he start, New York? He sighed, as he realized that he would eventually have to go back to New York to check the records, to see where it was that they eventually sent his daughter.

_Every time that I look in the mirror  
All these lines on my face gettin clearer_

Jackie turned to him, and said, her voice very quiet,

"Steven, I'm sorry I made it so hard for you to find me." He looked over at her, before he turned back to the road, saying,

"It's ok now, Jackie. I found you, that's the only thing that counts. Though I would love to know how it is that even though I hired a whole team of private investigators, told the cops, pretty much everything I could think of, that I couldn't find you. I even looked under every possible name that I could think of." Jackie laughed softly to herself, before she turned to him and said,

"No you didn't."

"What do you mean, I didn't?"

"Because if you had, you would have looked for a Beulah Haide." Steven looked over at her and saw that she was serious.

"You're serious?" he said, his tone one of disbelief. "You _actually_ called yourself Beulah? After all the bitching years ago that you _hated_ that name?" She shrugged, before she said,

"Well, you knew that I hated that name, so you would never even consider it. That, and I changed the pronunciation, so now it's be-oo-lah, and I changed the spelling of your last name to h-a-i-d-e. Still pronounced the same, but a totally different spelling, that I knew would throw off anyone who tried to find me until I was ready. Too bad I was never ready," she said, more to herself than to him. She took a drag of her cigarette, looking at the scenery.

_The past is gone  
__It went by like dust to dawn  
Isn't that the way  
Everybody's got their dues in life to pay_

She ran a hand through her hair, and sighed when she saw a clump of hairs in her hand. He looked over, and promptly swerved the car, screaming,

"Jackie, what the hell!"

"Steven, look at the road, I don't want to die!" she screamed back at him, as he righted the car back into the lane. He looked at the road, barely able to believe what he had just seen. Jackie just took the clump of hair and threw it out the open window. He opened his mouth to ask her about it, but she beat him to the punch.

"It's one of the things that happen with AIDS. I've been losing my hair like this for a couple of years, but it wasn't always this bad. It got like this a few months ago. That's when I went to the clinic, and they figured out what was wrong with me."

"Jackie, you didn't figure that losing your hair at all was strange?" he asked, disbelief in his voice. She had always been so proud of her hair, he figured that she would notice if her hair started falling out. She snorted, before she scoffed at him,

"Do you think that I would even notice, what with how high I was most of the time?" She took a drag of her cigarette, before she looked over at him. She could tell that his Zen was failing him; his face had taken on this haggard look. She smirked to herself as she finally realized that it took 25 years and her dying to finally break the mask he always wore. She still knew him better than anybody else did, or ever would.

_I know what nobody knows  
Where it comes and where it goes  
I know its everybody's sin  
You got to lose to know how to win_

"Jackie, how long have you been this high?"

"Like this? Not that long, I've actually been pretty good lately. You should have seen me about five years ago, wow was I high." She shook her head, and he couldn't believe that she could possibly have been any worse than how he found her.

"Steven, it was bad. I have whole blocks of years, not months, _years_ that I don't remember. The entire first few years of the 90's is a total blur to me; it's all just a complete blur of images and sounds. Not much else there except for that," she said, taking another drag. He shook his head, as he couldn't believe that this was _Jackie Burkhart_ that he was speaking with. She was a totally different person than the one that he had known and loved so long ago. She was completely different, and not in a way that he appreciated. He shook his head, before he said,

"What happened?" Jackie took another drag, and he noticed that her hand was shaking as she blew the smoke out. She steadied her hand with her other one, before taking another drag and saying,

"Everything happened. Do you want the full story?"

"Jackie, of course I do!" he said vehemently. She took another drag of her cigarette, her hand shaking slightly before she put it on her thigh, and said,

"Well, let's see. I started out going to New York, with 342 dollars and 16 cents in my pocket and a crazy dream. I still wanted to be on TV, and I figured that once I made it on there, I could come back to Point Place. At least then, everyone would see that I was a strong woman, that I didn't _need_ to be with you to validate my existence. That I could and _would_ be ok without you, even though leaving had damn near killed me. Being pregnant didn't help matters much, though." She took another drag, her hands starting to shake harder. She opened and closed them several times, getting rid of the shakes.

"After a month or so, I found a small TV station that would take me as an intern, but the pay was practically non-existent, so I had to take another job at night to help pay the bills. Not the best thing I ever did, waitressing at this small diner in Queens." She closed her eyes, and breathed in deeply, like she was smelling something.

"I can still remember the smell of the burgers and fries; they drove me crazy all the time. The boss figured out after a few weeks that I was pregnant, and she was actually kinda understanding of it. She asked me what had happened, and I told her that my boyfriend left me because he thought I was doing something behind his back. It was the first time since I had left that I told anyone what had happened." She took another drag of her cigarette, before blowing the smoke out and sighing.

"I poured my heart out to that woman, sat and just told the whole story. It took me two and a half hours to tell the whole thing and when I finished, I don't know, I just felt, lighter I guess. All the tears didn't matter, it felt so much better. It was as if this huge stone had been taken off my chest, and I knew what I had to do now. So, I buckled down, hoping to get better at my internship so that they would hire me. So that then I could come home, show you who I was now, so that you would love me and forgive me. It was always about you Steven, always. I could have written a book on all the things that I did for you." She turned away, singing the next verse very softly.

_Half my life is in books written pages  
__Live and learn from fools and from sages  
You know its true  
All the things come back to you_

Hyde kicked himself mentally; he couldn't believe that she had still been seeking his approval, even after all these years. Didn't she understand that she didn't need to seek it from him, because she always had it? Then again, he thought to himself, no she didn't, as he thought back on the last fateful night that he had seen her.

"Jackie, I am sorry about everything." She shrugged, a sad chuckle escaping her lips.

"Yeah, well, I kinda did it to myself too. But what happened, happened."

"So, whatever happened with the internship?"

"Well, that didn't turn out all that well. I worked there until I was eight months pregnant, hoping for some kind of break. The only break I got was when they fired me, stating that a girl who was that far along couldn't do the year-long internship that was required. I hadn't even known that it was a year-long thing when I got recruited, they only told me that it was going to be a few months and I'd have a permanent job. I should have known better than to fall for it, how dirty the damn studio was, but I had this dream. I wanted, I _needed_ for it to work out." She threw her cigarette out the window, before pulling her knees back up to her chin. Hyde looked over at her out of the corner of his eye, and saw that she had a faraway look in her eyes. She sighed again, before continuing,

"I couldn't work at the diner for much longer, I was so big I was about to pop, but I saved up enough to make it through a couple of months without a job. My rent was paid up for six extra months, everything was in place, and I just waited to lose my job at the diner. It finally came too, a week before I gave birth." Hyde was so deeply affected by Jackie and her life story; he couldn't believe that this was the innocent, beautiful girl who he had known once long ago, the girl who didn't bat an eyelash at spending thousands of dollars all at once. She sighed, before she continued,

"I gave birth to our daughter at Elmhurst Hospital Center on September 18, 1981 at 4:06 in the morning. I spent two whole days in the hospital after a major C-section, seeing as they said that my hips were too narrow to deliver her normally after about 10 hours of excruciatingly painful labor. I was terrified because as soon as I got out of the hospital, I had to go back to my crummy apartment in Queens with a newborn baby that I had to take care of with no one to help me. The hospital had even told me that I couldn't do any strenuous work because of my surgery for at least two weeks, and when they asked me if I had anyone to help me out, I answered yes, because I was so scared that they would take her away from me if I said no. The nurse just looked at me, and let me go. So there I was, in this huge city all by myself, with my little daughter in my arms, climbing seven flights of stairs because the elevator in my building was broken, and I put her in her crib, and just broke down. I've never cried so hard in my life, Steven," she said, looking out the window. Hyde felt the tears welling up in his eyes, the story that she told broke his heart. He was pissed at himself for not being there, at her for not letting him be there, and at the world for making it so.

"So what was she like Jackie?" Jackie turned her head towards him, and said,

"The best mistake I ever made in my life. She reminded me of you so much I even named her for you."

"What do you mean Jackie?"

"She had this brown curly hair, like a cross between mine and yours, and even though she was so little I could already tell that she had your eyes. So, I named her the best name that I could think of to pay homage to her father. Her name was, _is_, Jaimee Paige Hyde," she said, hanging her head a little so that he wouldn't see the tears running down her face. Hyde, on his part, was in shock; Jaimee Paige, she had named his daughter for his very favorite guitarist from his favorite band? He couldn't take it anymore, so he just pulled over right there, not caring about anything else as the tears poured from his eyes. He looked over at the woman that he had loved so deeply, and he could see and feel her pain, for it was his pain too.

"She was my only happiness in life, the only one who could make me laugh like no one else since you. She made me sing inside with joy and pride. And the worst thing is, Steven, all the things that I wanted for her in life, to have a good life with her loving mother, to meet and love her father, they all just slipped away."

_Sing with me, sing for the years  
Sing for the laughter, sing for the tears  
Sing with me, if its just for today  
Maybe tomorrow the good lord will take you away_

Steven cried with her, the both of them lost in themselves, lost in their broken dreams. He had spent 15 years dreaming a dream he finally realized was just that, a dream, while she had spent 23 in agony, realizing that the dream she had had for their daughter had slipped from her very fingers.

_Dream on, dream on  
Dream yourself a dream come true  
Dream on, dream on  
Dream until your dream come true  
Dream on, dream on, dream on..._

"Jackie, why didn't you just come home?" he asked, his voice thick with tears. She shook her head mutely, the tears forming a lump in her throat that prevented her from talking. Finally, she somehow got some words out, and said in a quiet voice,

"Oh Steven, it was just my stupid pride. I wanted so badly to be something different from the spoiled, little rich brat that you knew, I wanted to know that I deserved you. I wanted my daughter to grow up being proud of her mother, I wanted to be different from Pam, but in the end I was no different. I struggled for Jaimee, and it still wasn't enough." Jackie wiped her nose with the back of her hand, the tears flowing down her face, staining her thighs with tears unshed for 23 years.

"I still remember the day that they took her away, how she was screaming for me, and how I just stood there, the tears flowing and I said nothing. I _let_ them take my daughter because I was a stupid, selfish bitch, because I was too proud to come home and admit that I had fucked up, and because more than anything I was afraid. I was afraid that if I came back… I don't know, it doesn't make sense anymore. Nothing makes sense to me anymore," she said, her voice infinitely quiet as she choked up with tears. She could no longer speak normally, as she could only cry, letting everything out that she had kept inside of herself for so long. She threw herself onto Hyde's chest, like she had done so long ago every time that she was upset about something, and cried out all the years of anguish on his chest, her sobs accentuated by his own. He hugged her tiny frame close to him, letting her sobs wrack both her own body and his, washing away the sins and the broken dreams, making them whole within their grief. He picked her head up, and he looked into those eyes, wide now, full of pain, with crows' feet around the edges and he fell for her all over again. He cupped her cheek with his left hand, wiping away her tears with his thumb, mirroring the same position they had been in 25 years ago.

"When are you going to understand, Jackie, that it will _never_ be over between you and me?" She laughed at his words, before his lips covered her own in a searing kiss, pouring out all their pain and numbness, leaving behind only the love that they still felt for each other, even after all these years.

_Sing with me, sing for the years  
Sing for the laughter and sing for the tears  
Sing with me, if its just for today  
Maybe tomorrow the good lord will take you away_


	9. Our Wrong Impression

**A/N: Ok, so here is the next installment! It took me a while to figure out how to get this just right, so I am really hoping that all of you like it! The song is "Wrong Impression" by Natalie Imbruglia, and I think that it is perfect for this segment! Anyhoo, read on, and come on people, review! I get very happy when I see reviews, it tells me that you like the story! So come on, get them reviews flowing! Thanks!**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own That 70's Show, so please do not sue. I am a poor college student, I have no money, and it wouldn't be worth it. That, and if this were my show, I would have burned Season 8 to the ground.  
**

_January 1__st__, 2006 13:39_

Jackie and Hyde broke off their kiss, tears still streaming down both their faces. Hyde caressed Jackie's cheek with her thumb, as she pushed his sunglasses up onto his forehead, looking into his eyes. The creases around his eyes had become much deeper, the crystal blue of his eyes clouded with pain and years of deep-seated disappointment, but that all seemed to lift when she looked deep into his eyes.

"Hey there, where ya been all this time?" she said softly, a smile breaking across her face. He laughed loudly, hugging her tiny frame even tighter to his body. She breathed in the scent of him, smelling like cannabis and vanilla and something uniquely him, calming her like nothing else. She pulled away slightly, and she looked up at him, before saying,

"I wanna go home, Steven." He smiled at her, before nodding. He moved back to his seat, and put the car in gear, getting it back onto the highway. He looked over at her, the woman he had once loved so much and who he still loved more than he could ever explain, and he decided that he wouldn't let her down again.

_Calling out, calling out  
Haven't you wondered  
Why I'm always alone  
When you're in my dreams_

Jackie squirmed in her seat slightly; this wasn't exactly the song that she wanted him to listen to, not even with what had happened between them in the last few minutes. This song was the closest that he could come to understanding everything about her, everything that she felt about him, if he only listened. She grabbed another cigarette, lighting it quickly, her hands shaking, as she looked over at him from the corner of her eye to see if he had any reaction to this song. He didn't seem to have one, but he was Steven Hyde, he could Zen his way out of almost everything. She took a drag, blowing the smoke out the window, wondering if he would understand the song's lyrics in relation to them.

_Calling out, calling out  
Haven't you wondered  
Why you're finding it hard  
Just looking at me_

He shifted slightly in his seat, the song making him slightly uncomfortable because it fit so well. He cleared his throat, before turning to Jackie and saying,

"So, tell me more about what happened. I want to know everything about Jaimee, and you, and what happened." Jackie inhaled deeply, grateful for the distraction from the song. She smiled slightly when she thought back on her beautiful daughter, before she grabbed her purse and started rummaging in it. Hyde looked at her from the corners of his eyes, trying to see what she was looking for considering he had totally emptied her purse. He heard a zipper being pulled, and he glanced over to see where the hell she had found another zipper. It was deep inside the purse, he saw, and he didn't see much in it except for a few pieces of paper.

"Don't worry, Steven, there's no drugs in here. I never kept them in here," she said, her voice dropping. She pulled out a ratty photo, torn along the edges, and she held it close to her heart, before giving it to him. She placed it in his hand so that he could see, and she said, her voice slightly shaky,

"That's the last picture I ever took with Jaimee. She's about 18 months old in that picture. It-it's right before they took h-her away." Hyde turned the picture over, and placed the picture at eye level so that he could see it and the road. What he saw blew him away; it was Jackie, Jackie like he had never seen her, glowing, happier beyond anything he remembered, the smile on her face bigger than he had ever seen, holding a little girl on a couch. Jackie was lying on the couch, holding the little girl up over her head, so that the little girl's face was seen perfectly, while Jackie's was in profile. Although Jackie held his attention, her beauty radiating even from this old picture, he was struck most by the little girl. She was laughing, her little hands slightly balled up into fists in her mouth, her beautiful curly brown hair in cute little pigtails. He could see the crystal blue of her eyes, _his_ eyes, set in her face, a mix of his and Jackie's.

"She's beautiful, Jackie," he said, his voice full of awe. Jackie smiled, and he handed her back the picture. She took it and cradled it in her hands, before she said,

"That's our little girl, Steven. She was so beautiful, like an angel." She shook her head, trying to hold back all the emotions that were flooding her. She took another drag of her cigarette, before she put the picture back in the purse, pulling out another one. She kissed this one, before handing it to him as well.

"That was when she was first born; I think she was a whole three days old when this one was taken." He looked at it, seeing that Jackie was standing next to the crib, looking down on her baby, her hand stroking her hair. Her face was cut off so as to show better the baby, and he understood what Jackie meant when she said that Jaimee already had his eyes from birth; her eyes were as blue as the sky, the same color of crystal blue that his were, the color of the cloudless sky on a sunny summer day. It was these two snapshots, so perfect, seeming like they were a perfect moment frozen in time, which really touched his heart. They both looked like they belonged in an art gallery, and not here in his hand, staring at his beautiful daughter and the gorgeous woman who he loved. He handed the picture back to Jackie, tears gathering in his eyes at the beautiful pictures that she had shared with him. He intertwined his right hand with her left, before bringing her hand to his lips, placing a soft kiss on her hand and saying softly,

"Thank you, Jackie."

_I want you  
But I want you to understand  
I need you  
I love you_

Jackie sat there stunned; it had been a long time since she felt this much gentleness from someone and she realized in that second how much she had really missed him.

_Didn't want to leave you  
With the wrong impression  
Didn't want to leave you  
With my last confession  
(Yeah) Of love_

"Jackie, what happened to us? How did it come to this?" he asked, his voice breaking slightly. She sighed, before she said,

"Well, I can't tell you your story, only you can tell your own story. I can tell you the rest of mine, though." She looked over to see his reaction, and he nodded his head. She puffed on her cigarette a little, steadying her shaking hands, before she took a deep breath and began.

"Well, after a couple of months, I had run out of money. Jaimee was almost four months old, and though it broke my heart, I had to do something to find us some money. So, I found a babysitter, my next-door neighbor, who would take care of her for a few hours while I was out on interviews. I finally found another job with decent pay, you know just enough to take care of the basics, close to the apartment building. It was another waitressing job, and I didn't even care about anything but making enough money to take care of her. I didn't care about myself so much anymore, everything was about her. She was my whole world, my little piece of you that was all mine, that was the reminder of our love, as stupid and cheesy as it sounds. But she really was, because every time that I looked into her eyes, I saw you. She was my constant reminder of you, of how much I loved you, of how much I had fucked up when it came to you and me. How I needed to somehow prove myself to fix everything, how I needed to love you and be loved by you."

_  
Wasn't trying to pull you  
In the wrong direction  
All I wanna do is try to  
Make a connection  
(Yeah) Of love  
(Yeah, yeah ooh)_

She looked out the window, pausing for a few seconds to take another drag, before she resumed.

"I spent 6 months breaking my back at that diner, with no real headway in anything. I paid rent, I paid the utilities, I had food for myself and for Jaimee, and neither of us was naked or barefoot. But it never seemed like it was enough, because there was never anything left over for me to really save. I started working longer and longer shifts to try and make some more money so that I could save something, but that ended up biting me in the ass, because I had to shell out more and more for the babysitter. It was tough, but I refused to give in." She shook her head again, the memories of crying almost every night when she realized that she probably wouldn't be able to get her finances in order enough to ever really have anything stable plaguing her. She ran a hand across her face, before she said,

"Finally, after another couple of months, I met this girl, Rain. I was waitressing her table and she kept staring at me, kind of creeping me out. I came over to her table and asked her quite roughly if there was anything else that she needed, to which she responded no. Finally, she left me alone, leaving me a huge tip. I think it was 20 or so dollars, and I was shocked. What was a girl with that kind of money doing at some diner's in Queens? I was intrigued, so when she came back I politely asked her where she worked, and she kinda smirked at me, before she handed me a card. She told me to meet her outside as soon as my shift ended, and that she would explain everything then. I didn't really want to, but the money pulled me more than anything. Well, I met her outside the diner, and she told me what she did. She was a prostitute, but the kind that guys paid big bucks for, a high-class one. I asked her how much money she made, and she told me that her average per night was about 400 dollars. My eyes bulged out at this sum, because that was my whole two weeks' pay. She asked if I wanted to join her, and I wanted to say no, but I was like fuck it, I'll do it one time, make my money and be done. Yeah, I wish it had been like that," she said, her voice quiet. Jackie shook her head, before turning to the scenery around her, breathing in the smell of the grass and flowers lining the highway. She took another drag of her cigarette, before she continued,

"I joined Rain that night. We went to some club, where she and I partied all night long, before finding ourselves a couple of targets. She chopped up a rock of cocaine before we went to hit our targets, and handed the rolled-up dollar bill to me, telling me to take some, that it would make it easier. I refused that first time, but afterwards, I felt so shitty I couldn't refuse. My first client was probably the worst, though I don't remember most of them. That first one, though, was horrible. He was so rough, I thought that he had killed me at first, and then he just dropped a one-hundred dollar bill in my lap when he finished. Rain looked at me, and told me that it was better when you were high, because then you didn't mind as much. It was the easiest money I had ever made, but also the dirtiest." Jackie stopped here, trying to steady her voice as the tears threatened again. She took a deep breath in and blew it out through her mouth, calming herself. She looked over at Hyde, who was gripping the steering wheel a little too hard, whose mouth was set a little harder than it should have been. She sighed, and continued her story.

"Yeah, it was pretty bad, but I kept thinking about Jaimee, and how if I made a lot of money she would be ok. So, I continued doing it, but I started getting high after a while. I started taking the coke that Rain was offering me, and just getting through the job as soon as possible. I didn't want to feel them touching me, their hands all over my body made me feel so dirty and the coke helped to get rid of that feeling. Plus, when I was high, I could imagine that it was _you_ touching me, that it was _you_ that I was with."

_Falling out, falling out  
Have you ever wondered  
If this was ever more  
Than a crazy idea_

She took a drag; it had been a long time since she had dredged up these feelings of disgust and dirtiness associated with her work. She sighed again, shaking slightly at the end. She didn't feel that wonderful anymore about the money, it had become inconsequential when she had sold her soul for it, flushing all her integrity down the proverbial drain. She rubbed her arms with her hands, trying to unconsciously scrub the filth off her skin. She looked over at him, and continued.

"I am so sorry for everything, Steven. You have no idea how sorry I am, look at me. I am definitely _not_ the person you used to know and love. I don't even understand why you took me away from New York, it just kinda doesn't make sense to me." He glanced over at her quickly, noticing that she was staring out the window, wallowing in her own self-pity, and he felt the rage start to build once more.

"Goddammit, Jackie, when are you going to understand that I _had_ to take you away from there?!" he yelled out at her, startling her.

"You wouldn't fucking even tell me that you were pregnant with my kid, you went to everybody but me, you left Point Place not telling anyone where you were fucking going, and you think that I am so damned vindictive that I was gonna leave you to rot in New York?!" He banged one fist on the steering wheel, before putting it up to his mouth. He turned towards her quickly, before turning back to the road, and said,

"Damn it, Jackie, I told you, it will _never_ be over between us, and that definitely means that I was _not_ going to leave you in that horrible place any longer than I had to. You may not have let me in 25 years ago, but I sure as fuck wasn't about to leave you there by yourself in this condition."

_  
Falling out, falling out  
Have you ever wondered  
What we could've been  
If you'd only let me in  
_

Jackie felt the tears start to flow once more; she swiped at them angrily, her hands shaking. She turned towards him, before she yelled at him,

"_I_ didn't let _you_ in?! What the hell are you talking about?! I dropped so many hints for you to get the point, I thought that I would have to draw you a damned picture to explain when you didn't get it! And then, when I ask you how you feel about kids, you have the same fucking response as you did to everything else: I don't know! Oh yeah, Steven, you let me in big time!" She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest, and turned to look at the scenery once more.

_  
I want you  
But I want you to understand  
I miss you  
I love you  
_

Hyde sighed; he knew she was right, it wasn't exactly like he had been Mr. Feelings back then. Hell, he wasn't even now. He sighed again, before he turned to her and said,

"Look, Jackie, I'm sorry. I just – I don't know man, I lose it when I think about certain things like that, like how you left and stuff. It really irked me, and it really hurt too." She uncrossed her arms, but kept staring out the window.

"Yeah, well it was no picnic for me either, you know."

_  
Didn't want to leave you  
With the wrong impression  
Didn't want to leave you  
With my last confession  
(Yeah) Of love_

"Yeah, I know," he said, his voice quiet. He scratched his beard slowly with his right hand, thinking back on everything that they had done wrong in their lives, the constant hurting of each other. Above everything else, he knew he still loved her, he still needed her in his life, to be his rock, because he was tired of rolling.

_  
Wasn't trying to pull you  
In the wrong direction  
All I wanna do is try to  
Make a connection  
(Yeah)Of love  
Have you ever wondered  
(Yeah, yeah...ooh)  
_

"Steven, how did we end up like this? 25 years later, and we're still at each other's throats. When does it end?" she asked, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. She was tired of crying, tired of feeling all these emotions; it was like a roller coaster that she hadn't experienced in almost 23 years and it hurt. He sighed, before he said,

"We were always like this, Jackie, it seems to be our thing. Love only gets you so far before it just doesn't count anymore." She shook her head, before she said,

"I don't think so, Steven. I think our problem was, and is, that we had such bad experiences with people we loved leaving us, so we guarded ourselves deeply. Our guards were too thick, they got in the way of everything and they still are. It isn't easy to let them go, to drop them, but I can tell you now, Steven Hyde, that even after 25 years, even after all the hate I felt for you, I still love you. Did you think that just because I had left that I stopped loving you? The line between love and hate is so thin, Steven, so thin, and I crossed it many, many times in regards to you."

_  
I need you  
I love you  
_

He couldn't believe what he had just heard come from her mouth; she had just let him in a way that proved she still loved him. She told him that she still loved him, but now he really believed it, as she was dropping her guards slowly.

_  
Didn't want to leave you  
With the wrong impression  
Didn't want to leave you  
With my last confession  
(Yeah) Of love_

He decided to do the same, and he cleared his throat, before he said,

"I know, Jackie. You weren't the only one who crossed that line. I crossed it after Chicago, and every day after. I couldn't believe I was stupid enough to believe that if I hurt you enough, maybe I would stop hurting inside. I didn't want to believe that you still wanted me, that you still loved me, I wanted to hate you, even though I couldn't. I was trying to push you away for so long after I came back from Vegas, that it just, I don't know, I guess it became the norm for me to do, and I'm sorry. I should have realized then that there was no way that I would get you out of my heart that easily."

_  
Wasn't trying to pull you  
In the wrong direction  
All I wanna do is try to  
Make a connection  
(Yeah) Of love  
_

She smiled slightly, as he was letting her in. He was telling her his deepest thoughts, the ones that had pained him the most after Vegas. She knew what that felt like, she had lived through the pain herself, only to have him come back to her, and then hurt her again 100 times worse than the previous time. She sighed, before she turned to him and said,

"Yeah, I know, Steven. I guess I was kinda the same way, what with Fez and me."

"Oh God, Jackie, don't _even_ bring that up, that was just… wrong!" he said, making a slight gagging noise. Jackie laughed, and said,

"I know! It really was!" The both of them laughed, the years melting away with the sounds of laughter, bringing them back to their youth, and their crazy love. Jackie looked over at him, still laughing and she glowed inside; she had brought Steven Hyde back, the Steven Hyde that had made her laugh and who loved her more than anything in this world.

_  
I didn't want to leave you  
With the wrong impression  
Didn't want to leave you  
With my last confession  
(Yeah) Of love  
Wasn't trying to pull you  
In the wrong direction  
All I wanna do is try to  
Make a connection  
(Yeah) Of love_

Hyde looked over at Jackie, who was still laughing, and he saw the change in her demeanor. He glowed inside, happy at the fact that he could still make her laugh like no one else, the woman he loved more than anything in this world. He realized then that there was no going back to how they had been as kids, that this was uncharted territory for the two of them, but he was damn willing to take the journey with her, the woman of his dreams.

_I didn't want to leave you there (I'm calling out)  
Wasn't trying to pull you  
In the wrong direction - but I'm calling out (Yeah, yeah)  
Wasn't trying to pull you  
In the wrong direction - but I'm falling out (Yeah...)_


	10. TwentyFive Years Gone

**A/N: Hey everyone, I know it has been a while since I updated, and I am so sorry! I've been busy with work and school, so I haven't really had the time to do anything as far as updating. The song is 'Ten Years Gone' by Led Zeppelin, and I think this song is amazing!** **Anyways, please enjoy, review and have fun!**

_January 1__st__, 2006 13:42_

Jackie sighed, before she turned to him, and said,

"So, what happened with you all these years? What have you been up to?" Hyde sighed as well; where would he start to explain what had happened? He gulped, before he started.

"Well, after you left, like I said, I started to look for you. I had no idea where you might have gone, but I had to do something. So, I went to the police, and then private investigators, and finally I did the unthinkable and called the FBI. None of it was any help obviously, as I didn't bring you home. The first thing that I did after I went to the police was I bought a house, because I thought you'd be back in a month tops. I looked at about 200 houses before I found the one that I wanted, because it had to be perfect. It was beautiful, Jackie, 2300 square feet, three bedrooms, two-and-a-half bathrooms. The kitchen was huge and it was the deal sealer, because the only thing that I could think about was how much fun I would have teaching you to cook." He smiled at the thought, as he doubted that Jackie might need his help cooking now. Then again, he thought to himself.

"I took one bedroom and bought a queen-size bed for it, along with all the matching furniture. I furnished the whole house in about a week, going shopping like a madman, with your voice in my head telling me what you liked and what you didn't. It kinda made me smile, the fact that even though you weren't there, you still were. The last room that I furnished was the nursery, and I covered it in everything that I could think of, from the changing table to the crib to the toys. I went totally crazy with that room, Donna and Eric thought that I was going to be in debt till I was 50. Red was a different story; he asked me once how much I spent on the nursery alone, because he saw all the stuff coming in, and I told him. He almost had another heart attack and I decided not to tell him anything else. I could not wait for the two of you to come home, I even had the nursery taped up with this huge ribbon and bow, and I didn't want to let anybody in to look at the result until you came home. Too bad that day never came, I think you would have really loved everything," he said, the ghosts of the past bringing tears behind his eyes. Damn it, Hyde, keep it together, he thought to himself. Jackie looked over at him, and smiled.

"Steven, I never knew you were so sentimental," she said, giggling. He looked over at her, the Zen totally in place, before he deadpanned,

"Didn't you know that? Hmm, and here I had you pegged as the one who knew me best." She started to laugh again, and he laughed with her.

_Then as it was, then again it will be  
An' though the course may change sometimes  
Rivers always reach the sea_

Hyde did a double take when he heard the first few words; Jackie had _**Led Zeppelin**_ on here?! What the hell?! He looked over at her, and said,

"Jackie, is this 'Ten Years Gone'?" She smiled at him somewhat sheepishly, before she said,

"Yeah, this is one of my favorite songs. It always reminded me of you." He sat back in the seat, in complete shock. She still loved Zeppelin, even after all these years. She said that it reminded her of him, and when he thought about it, it reminded him of her too.

"Jackie, I haven't listened to Zeppelin in about 10 years." She looked over at him, shocked.

"Really? Why not?"

"I don't know, after Donna and Eric convinced me that I would never find you again, I kinda stopped listening to them. It was too painful to listen, it reminded me too much of you." Jackie smiled at him sadly, before she said,

"That was the only reason I kept listening to them. I know every album by heart." She looked out the window again, and he kept his eyes on the road. They drove for a few more miles in complete silence.

_Blind stars of fortune, each have several rays  
On the wings of maybe, down in birds of prey  
Kind of makes me feel sometimes, didn't have to grow  
But as the eagle leaves the nest, it's got so far to go_

"So whatever happened with everything, Steven? I mean, do you still own Grooves?"

"Yeah, but not for much longer. I'm selling the whole company to a huge record company who bought us out." Jackie looked over at him, a slight frown creasing her forehead.

"Wait, didn't Angie own half the company? Did she agree to this?" Hyde shook his head slightly; his half-sister was a completely different story, which would take a lot of time to explain, so he decided to give the short and sweet version.

"Angie got married about a few years after you left. She decided to move to L.A. with her husband, where she lives now. She gave up pretty much all her interests in the company to me, except for the stock options, which she held on to. She was the one who suggested that we do the deal, and since W.B. has been in a nursing home since he had a stroke in '99, I just decided to go ahead with it."

"Wait, W.B. had a stroke? Is he ok?"

"Yeah, I guess so, the last time I saw him a few months back. He's partially paralyzed on the right side, but that's not the worst. He has senile dementia, so he's just getting worse and worse. Angie and I decided after his stroke that it would probably be best that he had full-time care, so we put him in the home." Hyde sighed; he didn't like thinking too much about his biological father. Hell, he didn't like thinking too much about anything other than a good time; it was too painful to dredge up the past and all of his sins.

"So, what else happened, Steven?" Jackie's simple question made him snap back to reality.

"Not too much else. About a year after you had left, I hired a few private investigators to try and find you, and of course they came back with the same answer that the police had. They had tried every possible name combination that I had given them for you, and I had no idea what you would have named the baby, so I only had you to go on. I didn't know your social security number, but I assumed that if you wanted to keep yourself out of the loop, you wouldn't even use it."

"You figured right. I knew that if I found a job that needed a social security number, I was totally screwed. So, I kept away from those jobs like they were the plague." Hyde chuckled a little, before resuming his story.

"Well, after about another 5 years I finally got fed up with the police and the private investigators. None of them had found anything anyway, so I decided to go to the FBI after some _major_ persuasion by Red, Kitty, Donna and Eric. I told them all the details that I knew, and they said that the chances of finding you were slim to none, but I held on to the belief that _slim_ meant at least some kind of a chance. Five years later, they came back empty-handed, and I decided to continue on my own, until Donna and Eric finally convinced me that it was totally pointless. That was the darkest day of my life." He still remembered when he had to open the door to the nursery, with its big yellow ribbon and bow still tied around it, and let both Donna and Eric into his sanctuary, the most private room in his house. He remembered that they had both been in shock at the beauty of the room, Donna breaking down into tears when she saw the amount of work that had gone into making a room like this. Eric brought in the toolbox, and went straight over to the crib, putting it down next to it. Hyde barely remembered the next four hours through the tears, and there were still nights that he had gone to that room, bare now of everything that had stood in it for so long, and broken down. He knew he cried for the dreams of the life that he would have had, and for the child that he never even knew. Now, he had found Jackie, and she was as broken as he was. He shook his head slightly; it seemed that life had it out for the two of them.

_Changes fill my time, baby, that's alright with me  
In the midst I think of you, and how it used to be_

"Steven, why did you keep searching for me for so long?" she asked him, her head hung slightly. He glanced over at her quickly, before turning back to the road and saying,

"I don't know, Jackie, I guess I had to. I just couldn't accept the fact that I had fucked up so badly that you would never come back. I guess I shouldn't be so surprised that you didn't come back." Jackie sighed, before she said,

"You are not the only one who fucked up, Steven. I did quite enough of my own fucking up. Look at what I've done with my life so far. I guess I'm no better than you, in fact, I may be a whole lot worse."

"Come on, Jackie, it can't be that bad. You have me now, don't you?" She laughed bitterly; it was so ironic that he said things like that.

"Yeah, I have you now. Yay for me! That totally obliterates all the problems I have ever had, because I have you now!"

"Come on, Jackie, don't be like that!"

"Oh, and what am I supposed to be like, Steven? Giddy and happy beyond belief that you found me _now_, when I am totally falling apart, literally? Yeah, Steven I feel _fucking fantastic_ now!"

"Damn it, Jackie, that's not what I meant!"

"Really? So what the hell did you mean?" Jackie lashed at him, her anger flaring up once again. Steven banged a fist on the steering wheel, before sighing. How could he possibly explain to Jackie what he meant without making himself look weak? No, he thought to himself; tell her the truth, open up to her. He sighed again, before he said,

"All I meant, Jackie, was that I'm glad that I found you, even if it was 25 years too late, even if you are sick and dying. I meant that no matter what happens now, I will stay by your side. That I will do everything in my power to help you and to find Jaimee, so that her mother can see what a beautiful young woman she grew into, so that her mother can stop eating herself alive with guilt. To tell our beautiful little girl that I am sorry that I drove her mother away, that I was sorry that she felt like I had abandoned her in her time of greatest need. That is what I meant, Jackie."

_Did you ever really need somebody, And really need 'em bad  
Did you ever really want somebody, The best love you ever had  
Do you ever remember me, baby, did it feel so good  
'Cause it was just the first time, And you knew you would _

Jackie looked at Hyde; stared is more like it. She couldn't believe what he had just said. Her mouth dropped open when she realized what he had fully said; he had said that he would stay by her side, no matter what happened. When, oh when, did she deserve to have him back in her life? She couldn't believe that, even after 25 years, he was still willing to take a chance with her.

_Through the eyes an' I sparkle, Senses growing keen  
Taste your love along the way, See your feathers preen  
Kind of makes makes me feel sometimes, Didn't have to grow  
We are eagles of one nest, The nest is in our soul _

Hyde breathed in deeply; he and Jackie were indeed eagles of one nest. Their childhoods were similar, even though they had been raised on different sides of the track. Their personalities were similar; their tastes in many things were also very similar. Hell, when he thought about it, they were the flip side of the same coin. One side new and shiny, the other rusty and dirty, but both had the same internal flaw. He sighed, and he turned to Jackie, who was still in utter shock at the words that had issued from his mouth.

"Jackie, I meant what I said." She blinked a few times, before her face softened into a sad smile.

"I know, Steven. I know that you really meant what you said." He smiled at her, and turned back to the road. Jackie stretched out her legs a little, bringing her arms up over her head. Hyde saw this move out of the corner of his eye, and he felt something stir deep inside of him; to be more correct, something in the region of his loins. He looked Jackie over through the corner of his eye, noticing that she was still lean. He sighed, knowing that she still had the power to overwhelm him with her body. That small movement, innocently done, stirred something within Hyde that he had thought died years ago.

"What, Steven?" Jackie asked, caught in the pose. Hyde glanced over at her, before swallowing several times. He cleared his throat, and said, his voice gruff,

"Nothing, you just look… I mean, damn Jackie, are you doing that on purpose?" Jackie looked at him blankly for a second, before she blushed furiously. She immediately straightened up, her cheeks crimson, before she giggled uncomfortably.

"Sorry, Steven, I didn't mean to do that on purpose. I'm just cramping up from sitting for so long and-" She stopped, suddenly deeply uncomfortable. She self-consciously crossed her arms over her chest, and stared out the window. Damn it, Jackie, she thought to herself, can't you get rid of the slut for even one day?

Hyde looked over at her when she stopped talking and saw that she was uncomfortable. He sighed, before he said,

"Jackie, look I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. It's just… I haven't seen you in 25 years, and you're still as damned sexy as you were then. I know that you did that to stretch, but damn woman, don't you know what kind of hold you have on me?" Jackie looked over at him, slowly uncrossing her arms, before she said, in a soft voice,

"Really? Still?" He glanced at her again, a smile on his face, and he said,

"Hell yeah, woman." Jackie smiled back at him, and he noticed how her smile lit up her face, seeming to soften her features, bringing back the face of the woman that he fell in love with.

_Vixen in my dreams, with great surprise to me  
Never thought I'd see your face the way it used to be  
Oh darlin', oh darlin' _

Jackie looked over at Hyde, her heart pounding. The smile was still plastered all over her face, and she didn't mind. She didn't care that with that smile she was wearing her heart on her sleeve; hell, he had just done the same. She snaked her hand towards his, giddiness building up inside her when she saw that he opened his hand and took her small hand in his. She squeezed his hand lightly and he squeezed hers back, turning towards her at the same time, giving her a smile. She smiled back at him, and they both looked back to the road, their hands still intertwined.

_I'm never gonna leave you. I never gonna leave  
Holdin' on, ten years gone  
Ten years gone, holdin' on, ten years gone_


	11. Back to Point Place

**A/N: Ok, so here is the next installment... I am sorry it took me soooo long to do, I have been so busy! Anyhoo, here is the next part and this one is not a songfic, as this is almost the end. For those of you who have stuck with me to the end, I appreciate it deeply. Please, enjoy, and leave some reviews if you like!**

_January 1__st__, 2006 13:49_

Jackie looked over at Hyde again, their hands still intertwined. She sighed in contentment; what else could she have asked for in life? She squeezed his hand again to get his attention, and he turned towards her for a second.

"What's up, Jackie?" She squirmed slightly, before she said,

"Do you think that we could, um, stop somewhere, um before we get to Point Place? I would really like to buy some clothes so that I can change." He looked over at her, and saw how deeply uncomfortable she was with even voicing this question. He looked at her, before he said, in a soft voice,

"Of course we can stop and go shopping. Anything for you, doll." Jackie looked at him, those four words still holding power over her and her emotions. She felt herself melt inside once more, those four words bringing up so many old emotions. She smiled to herself, knowing that she still meant something to him. She looked over at him once more, and said,

"So, how much longer do you think it will take us before we get home, Steven?"

"Home, Jackie?" he asked her, surprise showing in his voice. She smiled at him, the smile lighting up her face once more.

"Yeah, Steven, home." He looked at her, the smile plastered on her face, and he felt one grow on his face as well. Home, he thought to himself, a real home.

"We should be in Point Place in about 6 hours or so. If you want, we can stop in Chicago to go shopping." She smiled again, glad to finally be out of these disgusting clothes. It had been a long, long time since she had really cared about anything that she had worn or how people would perceive her, but she really felt uncomfortable now. Plus, with all the detoxing that she had been doing since Hyde had thrown all that shit out had cleared her head quite a bit. She wouldn't tell him that it was painful, doing this detox, but she felt grateful for it. We shall see how long that lasts, she thought to herself.

Three hours later, they had entered the outskirts of Chicago. He turned to her, and saw that she was sleeping, and he smiled slightly, wondering whether he should wake her up or not. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it lightly.

"Jackie," he said softly, tugging slightly on her hand. She stirred slightly, before going right back to sleep, her head lolling to the left. He noticed that she had a slight sheen of sweat on her forehead, and he frowned slightly.

"Jackie," he said, louder this time. She stirred a little more, opening her eyes slowly. She looked at him, her eyes blinking a few times, before she sat up. He let go of her hand, and she stretched out. She looked over at him again, and said,

"Hey, Steven." He smiled at her, and said,

"Hey, yourself."

"Where are we?"

"Chicago. I was wondering where you wanted to go shopping, because to tell you the truth, I don't really know Chicago all that well." Jackie giggled a little, before she said,

"Well, I know this is going to sound silly, but…"

"But, what Jackie? Wherever you want to go, I will take you there." She blushed a little, before she mumbled something.

"What?" he said, as he hadn't heard what she had said. She said it a little louder, but he still hadn't heard it.

"What?!" he said, getting slightly irritated. She sighed in frustration, before she almost yelled at him,

"I _said_ Neiman Marcus, on Michigan Avenue!" She looked away, crossing her arms over her chest self-consciously. He sat there, stunned for a minute, before he said,

"Okay."

"What?" she said, turning towards him, confusion on her face. He turned towards her, a smile on his face, and said,

"Okay, we'll go to Neiman Marcus."

"Oh," she said, the confusion more pronounced on her face. He looked over at her for a second, and smiled at how sweet her confusion was.

A half hour later they had reached Neiman Marcus. He parked in the garage, and they were about to get out, when she hesitated. He turned towards her, and said,

"What's wrong, Jackie?" She hesitated again, before she said,

"I-I don't want people to look at me funny in there." Understanding dawned on his face, and he reached into the back of the El Camino, pulling out a denim jacket. He handed it to her, saying,

"I know it's not much, but at least it will cover most of you." She smiled at him, putting on the jacket, which reached to her butt. He took her hand in his, and the two of them walked into Neiman Marcus.

Three and a half hours later, they walked out, Jackie dressed much more decently and carrying several bags. Hyde followed behind her, carrying several more bags, which they both put into the back of the El Camino. Jackie opened the passenger door, careful to slide into the car slowly, not wanting to ruin her new outfit. Hyde slid in as well, fully exhausted. He looked over at her, in her new dark-rinsed True Religion jeans, her black draped shoulder tee, and her Miu Miu python cork sandals. She looked amazing, and Hyde felt his loins responding once more to the way she looked. Not only did she look amazing, she had also insisted on paying for everything herself, shocking him into disbelief when he realized that she had just spent almost twenty thousand without blinking an eye. He had asked her where she had gotten the money, and she only smiled at him, before saying,

"I didn't spend 20 years doing what I did for free, Steven." She had gone to the salon down the street first, and had her hair styled before she went to go get clothes. She had also gotten make-up while she was there and had the cosmetologists do her make-up. She looked like the Jackie that he remembered, the beautiful girl that he had fallen in love with. She had been sexy before, but now she was even more so. He turned the car on, hoping that he didn't end up in an accident, as his eyes were literally glued to Jackie. He looked at her, and swallowed, quite loudly. She looked over at him, a blush creeping up her cheeks, and said,

"What?" He said the next thing that came to his mind, not really caring what he sounded like.

"You're beautiful, Jackie." She smiled at him, and said,

"Thanks. Now, do you want me to drive or do you feel ok?"

"What? Why?" She giggled a little at him, before she said,

"Well, because it's a green light and we're still sitting here." He turned back towards the road, whereupon he heard all the people honking behind him, and put the car in gear. He wanted to get to Point Place as soon as possible, and just kiss the living breath out of her. He got back on the highway, and she fell asleep again in a few minutes. He looked over at her, and smiled slightly, just letting her sleep. They were only about two, maybe three hours away from Point Place, and he thought that he should let her sleep before got home. Home, such a strange concept to the both of them, but it was where they belonged. He smiled again as he looked over at her, her head lolled on her left shoulder and he reached a hand over and brushed some hair out of her eyes. She smiled in her sleep and he turned his eyes back to the road, feeling some strange emotion bubble up within him; he thought about it for a moment, and realized that it was something he hadn't felt in a long time. It was pure, unadulterated joy.


	12. Home Sweet Home

**A/N: Here is the next installment of the story! I hope you all enjoy, as this one just flew out. It's like Hyde and Jackie are forcing me to write faster and faster, as we get closer and closer to the end. I hope that you enjoy this chapter, and please, drop a line if you do!**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own That 70's Show, because if I did, I would be rich and I would have totally changed Season 8. However, that is not the case; I am a poor college student and Season 8 went as it did... Ehhh, life sucks sometimes....  
**

_January 1__st__, 2006 23:36_

"Jackie." She heard the voice calling her name through a fog, and she stirred slightly; it sounded like Steven. She fell further back into sleep, not really wanting to pay attention to the voice, as all she wanted to do was sleep.

"Jackie, come on, wake up." Jackie heard the voice again, and felt someone shake her slightly. She opened her eyes, and looked straight into Hyde's eyes. She smiled at him, before saying, her voice thick with sleep,

"Hey, Steven." He smiled back at her, before he said,

"Come on, Jackie, time to get up." He gave her a hand to help her get out, and she stood up, whereupon her mouth promptly dropped open. She turned to him and said,

"Steven, where are we?" She looked up at the two-story house, painted a beautiful beige, with a wrap-around porch and she felt her heart flutter. She turned to Hyde, wonder and awe in her face, and said,

"Steven, is this… is this-your house?" Hyde smiled at her, before pulling her next to him, his arm draped around her shoulders, and said,

"No, dollface, it's _our_ house." Jackie's face lit up, the tears gathering in her eyes once more, and she came closer to his face. She stopped when her lips were only millimeters from his, and said, looking straight into his eyes,

"Thank you, Steven." She stood there for a few more seconds, trying to see how long he could last without kissing her, and she saw that, even with his sunglasses on, his eyes were dilated with desire. He couldn't last much longer, she could tell that he wanted to-

Hyde grabbed her suddenly, quite roughly, and pressed his mouth against hers, ravaging her mouth with all the pent-up passion. She could feel herself melting against him, pressing further against her chest, just to feel more of him. She could feel his fingers digging into her skin, and she knew that she was doing the same. She moaned against his mouth; it was slightly painful, but the pain was so good, so pleasurable. He dropped his hands lower, massaging her breasts slowly, while she moaned more into his mouth. He took one hand away from her, and grabbed his keys from his back pocket, slowly maneuvering her towards the door. He opened it, picked her up and kicked the door closed with his foot. The clothes soon started flying as they sat on his couch, and he could feel her heart pounding within her chest. But before they even had a chance to do anything, she pulled away, and he instantly missed the warmth of her body.

"We can't do this, Steven," she said, tears dropping slowly from her eyes. He looked at her, sitting there in her underwear, her head in her hands, before he sighed and said,

"Jackie, why not? You want it just as much as I do." He ran a hand through his hair; he knew what her problem was, she was afraid. He took her hand in his, and said, in a quiet voice,

"I don't care that you're sick, Jackie. I just-I haven't touched you, _felt_ you in so long, it felt amazing to be able to touch you, to kiss you like I've wanted to for 25 years. Please, Jackie," he said, looking her in the eyes, pleading with her,

"Please don't deny me the one thing that I have wanted more than anything for so long. Please." She looked up at him, the tears dropping faster. She wanted nothing more than to hug him, to kiss him, to _love_ him the way that she had so long ago, but the fact that she was sick with something that would kill her, and him, held her back.

"No," she said, her voice breaking with sobs. Hyde stood up, frustrated. He turned his back on her, walking towards something in the corner of the room. She suddenly heard something break, the sound of glass tinkling onto the carpet and she heard him yell out.

"Fuck!" he screamed, to no one in particular. She stood up and walked over to him, gasping when she saw that his hand was bleeding, dripping blood all over the dirty beige carpets. She ran to the kitchen, which was right next to the living room, and started opening drawers to find something to stop the bleeding with. After opening a third drawer, she found some kitchen rags and grabbed a few, running back to Hyde. She took his right hand and wrapped the rags around them, tears flowing from her eyes, dripping onto the rags.

"I'm sorry, Steven, I just-I can't. I don't want you to get sick," she said, her voice wobbly. He sighed, before he reached with his left hand to her chin, tilting her head up so that she was looking at him.

"It's ok, Jackie. I know that you don't want me to get sick."

"You must hate me so much right now."

"No, Jackie, not at all. I hate the fucker who got you sick, not you. I hate the fact that I can't make love to the woman I love, but it doesn't mean that I'm going to abandon you. I swore to you that I would stay by you, no matter what, and that is one promise I do not plan on breaking." He kissed her on the forehead, before he looked at her and said,

"Well, I don't know about you, dollface, but I am ready for bed. Do you want to go to bed or would you like to stay up?" She looked at him, before she said,

"Neither. I would like a tour of the house before I go to bed." He laughed, before he hugged her hard, and said,

"The princess has spoken. A tour of the house it is." She giggled at him, burying her head in his chest. She went to pick up her clothes and got dressed quickly, with him following suit. When they were both somewhat decent, Jackie in her shirt and jeans, he in just his jeans and an undershirt, he grabbed her hand and started to give her the tour. He took her through the whole house, including the upstairs bedrooms, but she noticed that there was one room that he avoided at all costs. She wrinkled her brow slightly when he led her into the master bedroom, totally avoiding the room right next to the master bedroom. She tugged on his hand slightly, and he turned towards her.

"Steven, why do you keep avoiding this room like the plague?" she asked, pointing towards the room on the left of the master. He swallowed, hard, and understanding dawned on her face.

"It's-it's the nursery, isn't it?" He nodded his head to her, swallowing again, before she dragged him over there. She saw that, like everything else in the house, the door was dirty, but she also saw the streaks where the paint was lighter than the rest. She touched the door gently, knowing that these lighter streaks were where the ribbon and bow had stood for 15 years. She took hold of the handle, and slowly pushed the door open. What she saw astounded her; this room, although standing empty for so long, had to be one of the cleanest rooms in the house. Now, she wasn't saying that the house was a pigsty, but it wasn't exactly brand-new either. It was obvious that Hyde hadn't cared much for his house in the last ten years; there was dust everywhere, the furniture looked worn and not cared for, and the carpets looked dingy. This room, however, the carpet was immaculately white, the walls still a soft yellow color with a wallpaper border of baby animals, and the windows sparkled, not one trace of water spots or dirt on them anywhere. Jackie felt her breath catch; it was so obvious that Hyde had taken care of this room, this one room, and she felt her heart tighten in her chest. She turned toward him and started to stutter something.

"Steven, this-I mean-I never knew-so beautiful… Oh, God!" She threw herself at him, and he hugged her tightly back, looking at the room that once held his favorite dream. He pulled her off of him slowly, and said,

"Would you like to see what it used to look like?" Jackie nodded at him, so he went into the room. She noticed that he stepped gingerly on the carpet, trying to get as little dirt or dust on it as possible. He crossed over to the closet, and took out a small box. He crossed back to her, and closed the door behind him, motioning to the master bedroom. She went with him, whereupon they both sat on the bed and he opened the box. Jackie looked over his shoulder into it, and saw that he had kept every little stupid thing she had ever given him, every picture they had ever taken, everything. She wanted to cry. He started to take some stuff out, and he finally pulled a small stack of pictures out. He held them out for her to see, and she looked at the pictures.

"This is the nursery when I was painting it, and putting the wallpaper on." She looked at the first picture, where she saw Hyde with a large roller attached to a rod, his back to the camera, painting the wall. He was wearing a pair of faded jeans with a white undershirt, paint splashes all over him. She smiled at him, and asked,

"What, you just _had_ to show your butt to whoever was taking the picture, huh?"

"I had no idea that Kelso was taking this picture, and I got pretty pissed off when I heard the click, as can be seen in this picture." He turned to the next picture, which was one of him turning around, with a mad look on his face, still holding the paint roller.

"And this one, I was clobbering Kelso," he said, turning to the next picture, which only showed Hyde's chest, part of the wall, and part of his arm, obviously drawn back to hit someone. Jackie giggled, and waited for Hyde to continue. He turned to the next picture, which happened to be him starting to set things up. He gave her a complete run-down of every picture, until he reached the very last in the stack of 20. She saw that he took a deep breath, before he continued.

"This," he said, his voice trembling ever so slightly, "is the completed nursery." He handed the picture to Jackie, so that she could see everything. She held the picture, and found suddenly that she couldn't breath. The nursery was perfect, everything that she would have ever wanted. The walls, painted that soft yellow with the border of baby animals, blended perfectly with the colors he had picked for everything else. The crib was in the middle, with stuffed animals overflowing out of it. The comforter, hanging out of the crib, was also soft yellow, with the same theme of baby animals on it. On either side of the crib were built-in bookcases, obviously filled with books of all kinds. There was a nursing chair on the other side of the room, also a soft yellow color, with the matching ottoman the same. There was a small table and chairs to the right of the chair, perfect for wanting to play tea later on, or any other game. The changing table was to the right of the crib, after the bookcase, next to the window. Jackie felt the picture start to blur, and she felt, rather than saw, the tear that fell on it. She looked up at Hyde, who also had tears in his eyes, and said,

"This is so beautiful, Steven." He shrugged, before he said,

"Yeah, I guess. I just wanted it to be perfect, and since I didn't know if you were going to have a boy or girl, I picked yellow. I didn't even know if you would have liked it, but I thought that it was nice and-"

"It's so perfect, Steven." She hugged him, whispering "Thank you" in his ear for a few minutes, before she broke off the hug. She looked at him, and he noticed that she had that sheen of sweat on her forehead again, as well as the glassy eyes. He took the nursery picture from her, and started putting the stuff back into the box, while he said,

"Jackie, go get dressed for bed, and then you can have your pick of rooms to sleep in." She nodded her head to him, and went downstairs to grab her bags from the back of the El Camino. She got everything out, and just plopped it in the living room, rustling through the bags before she found her pajamas. She put them on, just leaving her clothes there, and walked upstairs. Hyde had already put the box away, and was taking off his pants when she walked into the master bedroom. She looked at him, wringing her hands slightly, before she asked,

"Steven, is it ok if I sleep with you tonight? I just-I don't want to be alone, not tonight." He nodded at her, and she went to the bathroom to pee quickly, appearing 5 minutes later as he was getting in bed. She saw that in the 5 minutes she had been gone, he had changed the sheets and the bedding, and was getting into bed on the right side. She got into the bed on the left side, and they both lay there for a few seconds, before she snuggled up next to him. He looked at her, her forehead shining in the moonlight, and she said,

"Please, Steven, just let me sleep like this. Please, I get such horrible nightmares." He nodded at her, putting his arm around her, letting her head lie on his chest, like it had so many years ago. He could hear, and feel, her breathing slow down as she slowly drifted off into sleep. The steady rise and fall of her chest soon put him to sleep as well.

She woke up screaming, only a few hours later. He looked all around, startled, before he saw that Jackie was thrashing about in her sleep. He turned towards her, and saw that, not only was she screaming, she was crying profusely. He heard her screaming, over and over, and he started to distinguish the words.

"Jaimee! NO!! NOT MY BABY!! PLEASE, LEAVE HER HERE, PLEASE!!!!" He decided that enough was enough, and sat up, taking Jackie in his arms, shaking her awake gently. Then, just as soon as it had started, the screaming stopped, and Jackie sat there, the sweat pouring off of her, the tears rolling down her face, her eyes wide open. She felt Hyde's arms around her, and she grabbed onto him, crying into his chest once more. He shushed her, letting her cry herself back to sleep on his chest. He waited until he was sure that she was asleep once more, before looking over to see what time it was. It was about 4 in the morning, and he was exhausted. He tightened his grip on her, while she did the same, and he fell asleep, sitting upright, Jackie on his chest.

**A/N: One more small thing, concerning the nursery; I was inspired for it by the nursery scene in Father of the Bride II, in which the nursery is, I think, everyone's dream of the perfect nursery. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, get the film, as the story itself is actually really sweet too, and just check out the scene. I am in tears every time I see it, it's _that_ perfect!**


	13. Jackie and the Formans

**A/N: Ok, I am back with the next chapter! I hope you all enjoy, and in case anyone has any questions about the clothes and stuff, yes I do like designer stuff, no I don't have any really expensive designer stuff, because I do NOT have the money to shell out like two grand for a very nice, pretty, soft, kick-ass jacket... Damn you, designers, why must your beautiful creations cost so much?!**

**Disclaimer: For the thousandth time, I do NOT own That 70's Show, so please do not sue me. I am poor, and you would spend more money than you would get. That, and I would totally obliterate you in court, with like pain and suffering charges for Season 8, because that was just horrible. ;)  
**

_January 2__nd__, 2006 10:26_

Hyde was the first to wake up, his back and neck killing him. He stretched slightly, trying to get all the kinks out of his back first, before he moved on to massaging his neck slowly. He looked down and saw that Jackie was still asleep on his chest, and he would rather have cut off his hands than bothered her to get up. She had had such a restless night, with the screaming and nightmares, that he decided to just let her sleep, no matter how uncomfortable it felt for him. He looked over at what time it was, and saw that it was about 10:30 in the morning. He leaned his head back against the headboard, sighing softly. He felt Jackie stir slightly, tightening her grip on him once more, and he hugged her tighter in response. She whimpered softly into his chest, and he started to stroke her hair, humming softly into her hair in between his kisses. She calmed down, smiling slightly into his chest. Her eyes fluttered open slowly and she looked up at him, the small smile still on her face.

"Hey," he said to her.

"Hey, yourself," she said to him, her voice soft and thick with sleep. She got up a little off of his chest, stretched out and looked over at him.

"I don't know about you, Steven, but my back is _killing_ me," she said, as she stretched out. He smiled at her, before he said,

"Yeah, my back kinda hurts too, but having you in my arms all night was well worth the pain." He looked at her, the blush flushing her face a beautiful pink color. She rolled over to the edge of the bed and got up out of it, going towards the bathroom. She started to strip, throwing the clothes over the back of the office chair by the bathroom door, before turning her head towards him and saying,

"Well, aren't you coming?" He looked at her for a few seconds, before he got up, following her into the bathroom.

An hour later, they had both finished their bath and had gotten dressed. They were in the dining room, where Jackie was sitting while Hyde made breakfast for the both of them. She still felt the detox effects from the drugs, but she was keeping a good façade up for Hyde. She was keeping the shakes under control as much as possible, as well as the nausea, which was no easy task. She flipped her hair, putting her chin in her hand, and said,

"Steven, so how was your shower?" Hyde smiled to himself, before he answered from the kitchen,

"I have never had a sponge bath in my Jacuzzi tub before, so very interesting. Now, if there had been sex that would have been the cherry on the top of the cake." Jackie sighed before she said,

"Steven, you know that I can't do that." It wasn't that she didn't want to, but she was so scared of getting Hyde sick that she wouldn't even entertain the idea. She sighed again, as he wasn't the only one who wanted it badly; she wanted so badly to give her love to him, but it just wasn't possible. She looked towards the kitchen, as she smelled something really good wafting out of the kitchen, and wondered what on earth he was making. A minute later, he came into the dining room, holding two plates in his hands. He set one in front of her and sat down, going back into the kitchen to get utensils. Jackie looked at her plate; it looked damn appetizing, but she had no idea what he had just cooked up for her. He came back, and laughed at the confused look on her face, before she looked up at him and said, in an irritated voice,

"What?"

"Nothing, it's just you're looking at the plate like it's going to eat you." She smiled sheepishly, before she said,

"I just don't know what this is." He smiled at her, before he sat down next to her at the dining table, and handed her a knife and fork.

"It's a mushroom, cheese and onion omelette with Hollandaise sauce, homemade beef sausages and homemade wheat bread, toasted. It's nothing super special." She looked at him, her mouth slightly agape, while he picked up his knife and fork. He started to eat, but stopped when he saw that she was still staring at him. He started to feel a little uncomfortable, so he said,

"What, Jackie?" Jackie snapped out of it a little, and said, her voice very quiet,

"Nothing, I just haven't had a breakfast like this in a long, long time. Nobody has cooked for _me_ like I am someone special in a really long time." He smiled at her, before reaching a hand out to cup her face, and said,

"Jackie, never for one second believe that you are anything less than someone _very _special to me. Now, eat before it gets cold, because afterwards, we're gonna go and visit the Formans." She nodded to him, and dug into her food. They were both quiet the whole time, both wrapped up in their own thoughts. Jackie, for her part, was both excited and terrified to go see the Formans, which probably included Donna by this time, because she had left so suddenly. She was terrified whether or not they would accept her, whether they would forgive her for the way she acted. Hyde was more anxious to go and see them, not because of Jackie, but because Kitty would probably be crawling up his ass for a week after for not calling and telling her that he had found Jackie. He shrugged to himself, and thought that it didn't matter, as long as Jackie knew that she was home, back where she was sorely missed and deeply loved.

Half an hour later, Jackie had decided to change her clothes to look more presentable, and was currently in the living room trying to decide on an outfit. She had clothes thrown everywhere and Hyde was starting to get slightly irritated.

"Steven, what do you think of these jeans with this top and these shoes?" Jackie asked him for what he could have sworn was the hundredth time. He sighed, running a hand through his hair, before he said,

"Jackie, anything you put together is fine. Damn, woman, you look good in everything." She smiled slightly at him, before finally deciding on a pair of light blue jeans, a white cascade sleeve top, and a pair of Valentino criss-cross black suede wedges. She put this all on, and looked up at Hyde, saying,

"Do I look ok?" He stared at her, before he finally managed to spit out,

"Oh, hell yeah." She smiled at him, before leaning over to plant a kiss on his left cheek. He got his keys, grabbed a black suede, fur-lined jacket, which matched his dark jeans and black Led Zeppelin t-shirt, and opened the door. Jackie breathed deeply for a minute, before grabbing her Burberry sateen trench coat, and prepared herself for the ride. She stepped outside, going towards the car, while Hyde locked the front door, and they both got in the car. Jackie sat there while he started up the car, and he looked over at her. He took her left hand in his right, and squeezed it slightly, showing her that he was there for her. She smiled at him, before she said,

"Ok, let's get this show on the road."

About ten minutes later, they had pulled into the Forman driveway, and got out of the car. Jackie saw that, while the house had obviously been modernized, it was still pretty much the same. She stood there, inhaling the frosty January air, her eyes closed, reliving memories of this place. Hyde came over to stand there right next to her, and he put his arm around her.

"You ready?" he asked her, and she nodded. It was then that the sliding door opened and Eric Forman stepped out. Jackie noticed that he carried a newspaper in his hand that he was reading, and she saw that, although he had aged, he hadn't changed all that much. A little balder, and he had definitely put on a little weight, but he was still stick-thin. He carried a cup of coffee in his other hand, which he was sipping from. He turned towards them, and didn't put his paper down, just opened his mouth to talk to Hyde.

"Hey, Hyde so how was your trip to – Oh my God," said Eric Forman, stopping in his tracks as he dropped his newspaper and coffee cup when he saw Jackie standing there. The paper fell to the floor unnoticed and the cup shattered on the concrete, but no one really cared. Hyde shifted from one foot to the other, until the tension became too much.

"Yo, Forman, are you gonna say anything or just stand there-" He couldn't say anything else, because suddenly Forman had barreled into Jackie, hugging her so tightly that she could barely breathe.

"Oh my God Jackie! You're ok, you're alive! Oh my God!" Eric said, his voice shaking with emotion. Jackie hugged him back, before she said,

"I missed you too, Eric." Forman let her go, and Jackie saw that he had tears shining in his eyes. She noticed that he looked older, the grey hair tingeing his temples. She stood there, wrapped in her coat as Forman stood there, before he turned back to the house, running inside and yelling,

"Donna! DONNA! MOM! Both of you come here NOW!" He turned back towards Jackie and Hyde, both standing in his driveway, obviously uncomfortable.

"Both of you get in here now!" Eric commanded them, sounding for all the world like Red in that moment. Hyde and Jackie looked at each other, before Jackie shrugged and followed Forman back in the house. Hyde followed her, while Forman ran out to the living room to call Donna and his mother again. Hyde shut the sliding door behind himself and stood next to Jackie, who was looking around the kitchen with tears in her eyes, remembering everything that had happened in this house. Forman ran back into the kitchen, with both Donna and his mother following him.

"Eric, what the hell is so damned important that-" Donna said as she entered the kitchen, but she pulled up short when she saw Jackie. Jackie looked at her old friend, feeling strange being there. Tears sprang to her eyes as she remembered the days when she used to make fun of Donna, calling her a "lumberjack", knowing that deep down inside she was insecure about her own looks. Well, that feeling was coming back in full force, as Donna's hair was still a flaming red, and she still looked like she did 25 years ago. It was as she was thinking this that Kitty bumped straight into Donna, who hadn't even noticed. Kitty, though in her 70's, looked good for her age, though Jackie noticed the careworn lines on her face that nothing could erase. Kitty looked up at Donna and said,

"Donna, what are you doing-" but stopped when she saw where Donna was looking. She saw Jackie standing in her kitchen, after 25 years of not seeing the girl and Kitty's hands flew to her mouth. Hyde shifted uncomfortably while Jackie lifted her hands slightly, and said in a quiet voice,

"Surprise!" At that moment, both Kitty and Donna burst into tears, both rushing up to her to hug her. The petite brunette was almost barreled over by the two women, who were crying over her and both babbling about how much they had missed her. Jackie also burst into tears at this point, but no one in the room knew that they were sad tears except for Hyde. He knew that she was crying because she was finally home, back with the people who loved her, and she didn't have much longer to live. So he decided to break up the teary reunion and sit Jackie down, knowing that all this strain probably wasn't good for her.

"Ok you two, break it up, let Jackie sit down," he said, as he led Jackie to the table, making her sit down. Donna sat right next to her, as Kitty got a tissue and dabbed at her eyes.

"Oh Jackie, my baby, where have you been for so long?" Kitty said, as she dabbed at her eyes. Donna wiped at her tears with her hands, before she said,

"Jackie, my God, we all thought the worst when Hyde couldn't find you. How are you, are you ok? Where have you been? Jeez, Jackie, we all missed you so much!" She burst into tears again, and hugged her long-lost friend like she was the oxygen that she needed so badly. Hyde was glad to see that everyone had missed her, but he didn't know how she was going to break the news that she probably wouldn't be around for much longer, or when. He decided that it was up to Jackie if she wanted to tell them now or not.

"Jackie, we were all so worried about you for so long. You have no idea, you devil," Forman said, a tear rolling down his cheek as Jackie laughed through her tears at his nickname for her. Forman opened the fridge and took out a bottle of water, pouring it into cups for everyone. Jackie took hers with a shaky hand, steadying the cup with her other hand as well when she started to shake. Hyde noticed this, and saw that nobody else did. Not that they would, it was only the tiniest shake, but he had learned her every move these past two days. She was still detoxing all that shit out of her body, so it was normal to have the shakes. He also noted that she drank all the water in the cup in one go, before she put it down on the table. She turned towards the people that she had always considered her family, and she frowned slightly. She looked around, and asked,

"Where's Mr. Forman?" She immediately knew that it was the wrong question to ask as soon as everyone's face fell, and Hyde kicked himself mentally for totally forgetting to tell her. Jackie shrank back a little, trying to hide herself somehow, before Kitty said,

"Oh honey, Red passed away five years ago. He had another heart attack."

"Mrs. Forman, I am _so_ sorry I even asked, I shouldn't have-"

"Jackie, shut up. You didn't know, and it's ok to ask. We're all getting better about it," Forman said as he looked at her. Donna and Kitty both wiped their eyes, before Donna said,

"Eric, can you please make some coffee? I have a feeling we are all going to be here a _very_ long time, as Miss Jackie has a lot of things to explain." Donna smiled at her friend, who smiled back, before she drew a long breath and started to explain.

Two hours, several cups of coffee, and a multitude of tears later Jackie finished her story. Kitty had been a complete wreck for the last hour or so of Jackie's story, Donna had tears gathering in her eyes, and Forman was standing by the stove, drinking a beer slowly. As soon as Jackie finished, Kitty hugged her like she never had, all the while crying,

"My baby, my poor baby!" Donna could only sit there, in complete shock, the tears finally streaming down her face. She finally stood up, and moved over to the kitchen sink, which she promptly threw up into. Forman ran over to comfort her, holding back her hair as she screamed and heaved the contents of her stomach into the sink. Hyde was sitting next to Jackie, staring into his cup of coffee like it held all the answers that he was looking for. Jackie only sobbed into Kitty's shoulder, gripping onto the woman like she was the last lifeline that she had. Hyde put his hand on Jackie's back, rubbing circles on it to try and comfort her. Jackie let go of Kitty, who also let go, so that Jackie could hug Hyde. She grabbed onto Hyde, screaming and crying into his chest, letting go of all the emotion that she had kept pent up for so long. Hyde only tightened his grip on her, looking over as Donna was hugging Forman, and Kitty was making herself a _very_ strong drink. Everyone was distraught over what Jackie had said, and none of them could truly believe it.

After about ten minutes, Jackie calmed down enough to sit upright, and turned towards everyone. She swept her hair back from her face, catching a clump of it in her fingers. She looked at the clump of hair and at everyone in the room, before bursting into tears again. Donna rushed over to her, kneeling in front of Jackie and hugging her, while Kitty said,

"It's ok, honey, just give that here and I'll throw it out." Forman crossed his arms over his chest, feeling completely lost. Hyde stood up, went to the fridge and grabbed a beer, opening it and downing half of it in one gulp. Kitty took the clump of hair and threw it in the trash can, while Jackie screamed out,

"Look at me, Donna, I'm totally falling apart! And the worst thing is, there is nothing I can do about it! I'm so ugly!" It was when Jackie said this that Donna pulled away, a hard look on her face, before she said in a soft voice,

"Jackie, you are not ugly."

"Don't lie to me, I know I am!"

"No, Jackie you're not! Jackie, you are _still _the greatest catch of Point Place, dammit!" Jackie smiled at her friend through her tears; even after 25 years, Donna still knew how to put a smile on her face. She hugged Donna, whispering to her,

"Thank you, Donna. Thank you for still loving me." Donna nodded her head mutely; Jackie still touched her in ways that she didn't even think would still be possible. They all sat or stood there, in complete shock at what had happened within the last two hours; they had found Jackie again, only to lose her to this horrible disease. None of them could believe it, and they found themselves still dealing with it. Finally, Hyde stood up, put his hand on Jackie's back and said,

"Jackie, I think it's time for us to go." Jackie looked up at him and nodded, before standing up slowly. She really didn't feel that great, all this crying and emotion had taken a lot out of her. She felt drained, like she wanted to sleep for the next month or so.

"Oh, Steven, honey, do you both have to go? I mean, you could both stay for dinner," Kitty said, wringing her hands together. Hyde shook his head, but it was Jackie that answered.

"Thanks, Mrs. Forman, but I really feel tired. I just want to go to sleep, no offense." Kitty nodded her head, and Donna gave her friend one last hug, before she said,

"You better come back tomorrow, we still have to introduce you to the kids." Forman came up behind his wife and gave Jackie a hug next. He pulled away and said,

"Yeah, Jackie, you still haven't met your namesake." Jackie looked confused for a second, before she laughed, and said,

"Does she act like me too?" Eric laughed then, and said,

"Yeah, more than I care to admit." Hyde kissed Kitty goodbye, hugged Donna, who whispered a "thank you" to him for bringing Jackie over and clapped Forman on the back. He and Jackie left through the sliding door, the Formans following them all the way to the car, waving at them until they left.

"Thank you, Steven, for that. It's been a long time since anyone ever showed that they cared about me," she told him as he drove to the house.

"Anything for you, doll," he said, as he intertwined the fingers of his right hand with her small, cold fingers, loving the way that the setting sun hit her face, lighting up her smile and making her look years younger, like the girl that he had fallen in love with, so long ago.


	14. The Uphill Battle

**A/N: Ok, so here is the next chapter, and sorry it took so long, been kinda busy with work! Anyhoo, I need to warn everyone that this chapter is a little disjointed, as it skips a few months, but to tell you the truth, I didn't want to extend what is in this chapter through the next several. The next chapter will be a big one, so stay tuned!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, so please don't sue.  
**

_January 2__nd__, 2006 17:26_

Jackie and Hyde had gotten home almost two hours ago, but neither one of them had done anything more than sit in the living room, smoking cigarettes and drinking beer. Jackie's eyes were still red and puffy from her crying, as she had been doing a great deal more once they had arrived home, throwing herself into Hyde's arms and crying it all out. She felt totally drained, and the shakes were back again, with a vengeance. She couldn't even get the cigarette to her mouth with one hand anymore, they were so bad. Hyde could only watch her go through these painful motions, knowing how deeply it hurt to get over that shit that she had been hooked on. After all, she had been hooked for a little over 20 years, and two days did not a sober person make. He sighed, before he turned to Jackie and said,

"So, is there anything that you want to talk about?"

"No," she snapped at him, not even turning to look at him. He realized that she was now truly going through detox; she was having cravings as well as withdrawal symptoms. He had called Kitty as soon as he had gotten a chance to, as he always called her whenever he got home safe, and she had explained what he should expect. Apparently, he hadn't been the only one who had noticed the shakes that she had at the Formans'. He looked over at Jackie, whose eyes were starting to glaze over, and he noticed the sheen of sweat on her forehead again. He sighed again, before he turned to her again and said,

"Jackie, I think it's time for us to go and get ready for bed."

"Not tired," she bit out, her left hand supporting her right as she took another drag. He knew that he would have to do something, drastic, if he was to keep her from going out in the middle of the night to find some more stuff. Hell, he knew plenty of kids by the high school who sold stuff; he had been running low and they had agreed to sell him some weed, as soon as they were sure he wasn't a narc. He stood up, and stood right over her, saying in a firm tone,

"Jackie, I think we need to go to bed." She looked up at him, and he could see that her eyes were already glazed.

"I don't _want_ to go to bed!" she screamed at him, the piercing scream tearing through his eardrums. He sighed again, knowing that the time for something drastic had come. He picked her up, ignoring her screams and her fists beating against any part of his body they could reach, and led her upstairs into the master bathroom. She continued to scream, even as he put her in the shower stall, turning on the cold water. The water hit her, and she screamed even louder.

"Turn it off, turn it off! It's like needles, it's so cold!" Tears started to stream down her face, mixing with the water and he felt her tears ripping his heart out. He couldn't turn off the water, he knew he couldn't, even though he wanted to so badly; this was something that she needed.

"Steven, please! I thought you loved me! I thought you loved me!" She gasped out, the tears and water stealing her voice away. He felt his heart break, but he only told her,

"Jackie, you need this. I am doing this _because_ I love you." She sunk down onto her knees in the shower, allowing herself to be pelted by the cold water, her tears streaming down her face. After a few more seconds, he turned the shower off, but she didn't move. All he could hear was her crying, and he got into the shower to pull her out. He picked her up off the shower floor, not caring that he was getting soaked. She clung to his neck, crying into his chest. He kissed the top of her head, before he laid her on the bed and started to undress her. He wanted to get her out of these wet clothes as soon as possible, before she caught a cold, or worse, pneumonia. He finished quickly, grabbed a towel from the bathroom, and started to rub her down. Jackie just lay there, tears still streaming, not responding at all. He sighed again, before he grabbed a set of underwear and her pajamas, not even paying attention to her nakedness. He liked the way her body looked, he wouldn't lie, but right now, it was more important to take care of her. She needed him like she never had before, and he wasn't going to let her down.

After he had dressed her, he pulled the blankets back, placing her under them and covering her up. She curled up into a small ball on her left side, wanting to be away from him as much as possible. He knew he had to do this to make her better, but it didn't mean that he felt any better about it. Truth be told, he felt like the biggest piece of shit on the planet. He stroked her arm, before leaning over and kissing the top of her head.

"Sweet dreams, Jackie," he said, and turned around, leaving the bedroom. He closed the door behind himself, knowing that there was no way she could leave either the bedroom or the bathroom if he was sitting right in front of the bedroom door. He went down the hall to get himself a chair from the spare bedroom, and put it right in front of the door. He sat in it, and decided to wait, hoping that she would fall asleep soon. It wasn't long before he heard her soft sighs, signaling that she was asleep, and he felt himself drift off into sleep as well.

"Steven, please let me out!" Hyde jumped when he heard Jackie's voice on the other side of the door, pleading with him. He ran his hands over his face, before he looked at his watch, seeing that it was about 2:30 in the morning. He stood up, moving the chair out of the way, before he said,

"Jackie, what do you want?"

"Please, Steven, let me out of here! Please, I promise I'll be good, just let me out!" she said, her voice wavering. He shook his head, before he said,

"Jackie, I can't let you out, not yet."

"Steven, you let me out of this damned room, do you hear me? Steven!" she yelled at him, pounding on the door. She was angry, and he decided to let her beat all the anger out of herself on the door.

"Steven, goddamn you, you let me out of this room! Who the hell do you think you are?! LET ME OUT!" she screamed once more, the door taking a pounding from her fists. He sighed, tears springing to his eyes, as he said,

"No."

"Steven, please, let me out! Please, just let me out," she said, her voice breaking with tears. He heard her body drag across the door, and then he heard her slump against the door, still crying and begging to be let out. He finally decided to open the door, but only enough to let himself in, before he closed the door once more. She was on the floor, slumped against the wall, still begging to be let out. He sat on the floor next to her, and pulled her towards him. She grabbed onto him, crying even louder.

"Please, Steven, just get me some, please, it hurts so bad," she said, her voice thick with tears. He shook his head no, his tears dripping into her hair, as she cried on his chest. Finally, after about an hour or so, she had cried herself to sleep, and he could feel her whole body still shaking, still sweating. He hated what he was doing to her, the fact that she was in pain, but he felt determined to keep her sober, no matter what the cost. He fell asleep not long after, still holding onto Jackie, the pair of them cradling each other on the floor.

The episodes continued for a few months, before they finally tapered off. Jackie was sober, but she only seemed to be getting worse day by day. Hyde's heart was breaking inside of him when he realized that she was slowly dying, and he redoubled his efforts to fulfill his promise to her, to find their daughter. It was the only comfort that he could give to Jackie, the idea that he might find their daughter always perked up her day. He had gone to New York to retrieve the birth certificate by himself in March, Jackie being too weak to fly. He handed it over to a few private detectives, and waited for results. He didn't expect any miracles, but he hoped that he would be able to meet his daughter before her mother died. He was thinking along these lines on a sunny morning in May, while Jackie was sleeping, when he heard the telephone ring. He got up off the couch, and went to answer the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Mr. Steven Hyde?" asked a male voice on the other line.

"Yes?"

"Sir, it's Jack Smithson, the private investigator you hired." Hyde felt his hopes lift, but he tried not to get too excited; he had let his hopes get up before every time the private investigators called when he had hired them to find Jackie, only to have them smashed. He tried to control his voice as he said,

"Yes?"

"Sir, we've found her."


	15. We Meet At Last

**A/N: Sorry it took so long, but I've been a bit busy with everything(life is kicking me in the butt!). School, work, family, they all take sooo much time! ;) Anyhoo, I finished the next installement, and for anyone from the UK, please excuse me if I didn't get things right with the locations, I have been to Reading before, but it was about 6 years ago, and even then it was only a day and a half. I have every intention of going to London proper as soon as I get a chance, as I think it's just awesome! Anyway, enough babbling from me, please enjoy!**

_May 16__th__, 2006 10:42_

Hyde stood there, completely rooted to the spot.

"What?" he said, the word barely quivering out of his mouth. He couldn't believe what this man had just told him; there was no way that it could be true.

"Sir, we've found your daughter." Hyde collapsed onto the couch, feeling totally drained, but elated and ecstatic at the same time. He brought one shaky hand up to his face, to wipe the tears that were slowly dripping down his face away.

"Where?" he asked, being unable to form anything more comprehensive. He still couldn't believe that they had found his daughter; he felt a million questions zooming through his head. How was she, did she want to meet him and Jackie, where did she live all these years, what was she like?

"Well, Mr. Hyde, she was apparently adopted in New York by a British couple, who then took her to be raised in London. Would you have any objections to meeting her?"

"What?" Hyde asked, totally thrown off by this question. His daughter actually wanted to meet _him_? He spluttered for a few moments, before he finally said,

"When?" He could actually _hear_ the guy smiling through the phone, when he said,

"Well, she is in Point Place right now, sir, and she was wondering if she could meet you today." Hyde sat there, absolutely stunned; his daughter was here, _here in Point Place_, and she wanted to meet him and Jackie? He got up off the couch, ready to go zooming to get Jackie up out of bed, before he remembered that he was still on the phone. He started walking up to the master bedroom, while still on the phone.

"How about we meet her in about an hour?" he said, his heart racing in excitement.

"That would be fine, sir. She also asked if you would like to meet at the park."

"That's fine," Hyde said, at the top of the stairs.

"We'll see you in an hour, then, Mr. Hyde." Hyde heard the click of the phone on the other side, and he immediately dropped the phone, running into the bedroom, where Jackie was still asleep.

"Jackie! Jackie, come on, doll, you gotta wake up!" he said, shaking Jackie awake. She opened her eyes slowly, and said, in a sleepy voice,

"What? Steven?" Hyde shook her once more, saying,

"Come on, Jackie, get up, time to shower and get dressed!" He left her side, going into the closet and starting to throw things around. Jackie got up on her elbows, looking to see what he was doing.

"Steven, what are you doing?" she asked, slightly irritated and amused that he was throwing clothes around.

"They found her!" he said, as he picked a shirt and then threw it away.

"Found who? Steven, _what_ is going on?!" Jackie said, as she got out of bed slowly, walking over to the closet and hanging on the door jamb. Hyde was still throwing clothes around, while gesticulating to himself and muttering things such as "not the right color" and "waaaay too tight, wrong impression" to himself. Jackie was getting slightly irritated, and decided to repeat herself, a lot louder this time.

"Steven, WHAT is going on?!" Hyde turned towards her, and said, in an irritated tone,

"Her! Our daughter, Jackie, they found her!" There was an immediate response in Jackie; her face went completely white, and she slumped against the wall.

"They… found her?" she said in a whisper. Hyde nodded at her, and said,

"She wants to meet us in an hour at the park." Jackie's face went even whiter, if that was possible, and she stood there for a few seconds, before she let out an ear-piercing screech.

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" She rushed into the bathroom, slamming the door and leaving Hyde standing in the closet trying to find clothes for them to wear.

Half an hour later, both Jackie and Hyde were showered and dressed. Hyde was wearing a pair of dark-rinsed jeans with a black Led Zeppelin shirt that he insisted on wearing, even though Jackie wanted to kill him for wearing it, and a pair of black boots. Jackie was wearing a pair of light jeans with a black asymmetrical top and her black Valentino wedges. She had kept her make-up light, not wanting to overdo it. Hyde and Jackie looked at each other, standing in the bedroom, and they both breathed deeply.

"Ready, doll?" Hyde asked her, and she nodded, her face still slightly white. Hyde leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek, trying to calm her. She smiled at him, and put her small hand in his. He smiled back at her, before he grabbed his aviators and put them on, then they both left the bedroom. They went down the stairs, and left the house, getting into the El Camino.

Fifteen minutes later, they had arrived at the park. They both sat in the car for a few minutes, both feeling anxious to see their daughter. Jackie looked over at Hyde, who was currently chain smoking, and said,

"Do you think she's going to hate us for what happened?" Hyde looked over at her, her eyes large in her face, showing her fear and anxiety. He sighed, before he said,

"I don't know, Jackie, but I doubt it. Otherwise, why would she want to meet us so soon?" Jackie nodded her head, and sighed once more. She nodded to herself once, before opening the door and getting out. Hyde finished his cigarette, put it out, and joined her outside. He locked the car, and went over to Jackie, putting his arm around her shoulders. The two of them walked over to the benches by the small pond, and sat down, waiting for her to show up.

Five minutes passed, before Hyde got a call on his cell phone. He took the phone out of his pocket, and answered.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Hyde?"

"Yeah?"

"Sir, it's Jack Smithson. We're here in the park, and would like to know where you are." Hyde sighed deeply; it was the moment of truth.

"We're sitting by the pond on one of the benches."

"I see you, sir; we'll be there in a little bit." Hyde hung up the phone, and turned around, looking everywhere for the two of them. He saw them soon enough; a man about 180 cm tall with blondish hair and a woman walking next to him. He stood up, and Jackie mirrored his movements. She saw the woman standing next to him, and felt the breath catch in her throat.

"Steven, is that her?" she asked, breathless.

"Yeah, doll, I think it is." A few more seconds passed, before the couple stood in front of them. The man smiled and shook Hyde's hand, saying,

"A pleasure to see you again, sir. And, without further ado, this is Jaimee Paige Burkton, your daughter." The woman stepped out into the sunlight, and both Jackie and Hyde felt their breath catch. She was perfect, a perfect blend of the both of them. Her hair, while not as dark as Jackie's, was still a dark brown, though curly like his. Her hair was long, reaching almost to her waist, and her eyes were the same color as Hyde's; crystal blue like the sky on a cloudless day. She was wearing light-rinsed jeans, tucked into supple black leather boots, and a black undershirt with a tan leather jacket over it. She carried a black purse,which even Hyde, through spending so much time recently shopping with Jackie, recognized as a Fendi purse. He smirked; it was obvious who she had inherited her sense of style from. She looked at the both of them, and said, in a quiet voice with a British accent,

"Hello, my name is Jaimee." Jackie burst into tears at this point, and threw herself at Jaimee, hugging her hard. Hyde stood there, tears rolling down his face, before he recovered himself and said,

"Jackie, you're smothering the poor girl." He pulled Jackie away from Jaimee very gently, and put out his hand.

"Hi, Jaimee, my name is Steven Hyde." The woman looked at him for a second, before shaking his hand and giving him the biggest smile.

"You'll have to excuse Jackie, Jaimee, she is known to be very emotional," he said, trying to alleviate the girl's apprehensions. She laughed, before saying,

"Oh, it's alright. I expected no less, seeing as she was not the only one waiting to meet someone." Hyde laughed, before he said,

"So, would you like to sit somewhere and talk?"

"I would love that." Hyde walked with Jackie and Jaimee over to one of the picnic tables nearby, where they all sat down, neither of them noticing that Mr. Smithson had left. Jaimee sat on one side, while Jackie and Hyde sat on the other. Hyde took his glasses off, and Jackie calmed down a little, before she said,

"Well, um, what would you like to know?" Hyde looked at Jackie, shocked, and said,

"Jackie! Can't you wait two seconds?" Jaimee only laughed, and said,

"Well, at least now I know where I get my impatience from!" They all laughed, and Hyde brought out a pack of cigarettes. He was feeling so nervous, that he needed something to calm him down. He took one out, and looked at Jaimee, asking,

"Do you mind?" Jaimee laughed, before taking out a pack herself, and saying,

"No, I didn't know if you smoked, so I didn't want to be rude and light one. Go ahead, and I'll light one up too, I need a little something to calm me down." Hyde offered one to Jackie, who took it, and lit hers as well. The three of them sat for a few seconds, before Jaimee said,

"Well, you asked what it is that I would like to know. The thing is, I know absolutely nothing about anything, and so if you wouldn't mind terribly, I would like to know everything." Jackie and Hyde looked at each other; this was going to be one very long conversation. Jackie cleared her throat a little, and decided to start.

"Well, Jaimee, it's a very complicated and long story, but here goes."

It took Jackie and Hyde almost three hours to finish the whole story, by which time Jaimee and Hyde had gone through an entire pack of cigarettes each, and Jackie must have cried an entire bucket of tears. Jaimee sat back in shock when they finished, and said,

"Blimey, I knew that the story would be complicated, but I never imagined it would be _this_ complicated." Hyde smiled bitterly, and said,

"Well, it wasn't exactly the way that we planned it out either, believe me." Jackie nodded, wiping the stray tears away. Hyde sighed, and pulled another cigarette out of a fresh pack. He lit up, while Jackie said,

"Jaimee, I am so sorry. You must absolutely hate us for all that we've done, but honey, we were both so lost for so many years." Jaimee shook her head, a few tears falling from her eyes as well, before she emphatically said,

"No, I don't hate either of you. It was a shite situation on all sides, and there was nothing that could be done. My parents always told me that if I ever found my birth parents, that I shouldn't hold anything against them, because they didn't know what had happened to have me given up for adoption. They always said that if I did find them, to talk to them and find out what really happened. To tell you the truth, I am glad that I did." She smiled at Jackie, who smiled back, and Hyde was struck by the similarity between mother and daughter once more. The same smile graced both faces, and their eyes sparkled in the sunlight the same way. He looked at his daughter, before he said,

"So, now you know our story, and I would love to know yours, as well as would Jackie, I think." Jackie nodded, and Jaimee leaned back, before she said,

"My story? Well, it is relatively simple, no big adventures, unfortunately. I was raised in Reading, by Arthur and Bella Burkton, who are both teachers at the local school. My father was born in London, while my mother was born in Marseilles. I have one brother, Louis, and one sister, Gwenhwyvar, both younger than me. I finished secondary school at the Camden School for Girls in London, and went on to Oxford University to study international law, both on a merit scholarship. I recently finished university, and now have a job with a very good law firm in London. I have a boyfriend, James, who I hope will soon ask for my hand in marriage. I have had my fair share of run-ins with the law, though, which is, I think, one of the reasons I wanted to go into it so badly." She stopped for a second, as Hyde had started to laugh. He couldn't stop laughing, and both Jackie and Jaimee sat for a few seconds, waiting for him to finish. Hyde shook his head, before he said,

"I am so sorry, it's just when you spoke of 'run-ins with the law', you sounded exactly like me when I was younger. No regard for authority at all, I didn't really fit in with what society said was normal. I'm sorry, but I just couldn't hold it in." Jaimee didn't seem to be angry, as she only cracked a smile.

"At least now I can tell my parents where I got it from. They had such a hard time with me when I was younger. Always right on the razor-edge of the law, they said. They were immensely shocked when I told them I wanted to be a lawyer."

"I can imagine their reaction," Jackie said, while looking at Hyde pointedly, who was still grinning and chuckling.

"I'm sorry, Jaimee, please continue," Hyde said, hiding his smile behind his hand. Jaimee smiled at him, and said,

"Well, first I have to ask you both; who did I pick up the multi-tasking from? And the incredible love of all things rock'n'roll?" Hyde and Jackie both burst into laughter, before Jackie said,

"The multi-tasking is from me, while you can thank your father for the music selection. He was always the huge Led Zeppelin fan." Jaimee looked at Hyde like he was the Holy Grail, and there was no denying the excitement in her voice when she spoke.

"Really? You love Led Zeppelin too? Did you ever go to one of their concerts? What was it like? Do you have any of their LP's? What's your favorite song?" Jackie laughed, before looking at Hyde, whose excitement was written all over his face. He leaned in a little closer, Jaimee mirroring him, and said,

"To the first question, absolutely. To the second, yes, I went to a few; to the third, it was mind-blowing. To the fourth, yes, I have them all, along with many other amazing old albums. My favorite song of theirs ever has to be," he looked over at Jackie, grabbing her little hand in his, and said,

"Ten Years Gone, by a landslide." Jackie smiled up at him, tears shining in her eyes. Hyde turned back to Jaimee, and said,

"What's your favorite?" She leaned back, a huge smile on her face, before she said,

"Achilles' Last Stand. Ten Years Gone is amazing, but I love the galloping beats on Last Stand, nothing like drumming it out on the set." Hyde's eyebrows shot up into his hairline, and he asked,

"You play the drums?" Jaimee nodded, a smile on her face, and said,

"I do indeed. My mother wanted to murder me when she found out, saying it was so un-ladylike and not befitting such a young lady as myself. Of course, my father laughed when he found out, saying it was nothing strange. I also sing, quite well I do say so myself, in a band with my boyfriend." Jackie could see that Hyde and his daughter had much in common, and she was glad. She reached for another one of the cigarettes, but she felt so tired she couldn't reach. She put an arm out, and lay her head on top of it, the heat starting to get to her. She barely heard Jaimee ask Hyde what was wrong, but she definitely felt Hyde's hand on her hair, pushing it out of her face.

"Jackie!" She jerked her head up slightly, looking at him, and said,

"What?" Hyde looked at her, concern in his eyes, as well as Jaimee's.

"Doll, I said are you okay?"

"I don't feel so great, Steven." He nodded at Jackie, before turning to Jaimee, and saying,

"I'm so sorry, but I think that your mother has to go back to bed. She's getting weaker every day, and the doctors have said that she probably doesn't have much longer to go." Jaimee noticed the pain in her birth father's voice, and watched his protective movements over her birth mother. She felt tears spring to her eyes; was the universe so unduly cruel that these people, who so obviously loved each other, only had such a short time to express their love? She nodded, before she stood up with Hyde, who was helping Jackie to stand, and said,

"Do you need any help?" Hyde looked at her, and said, his voice quiet,

"Actually, I could. She's not very heavy, but I'm not as flexible as I used to be, so if I could ask you to open the car door, that would be a lot of help." Jaimee nodded her head, and Hyde handed over his car keys, before he picked Jackie up in his arms, saying,

"Up we go, doll, we'll be home soon." Jaimee walked with him to the El Camino, stopping right in front of it and saying, her voice full of awe,

"Wow. Is it an original El Camino?"

"Yup, and it is all mine. Why, you like Caminos?" he said, as she opened the passenger door and he slipped Jackie into the seat.

"I actually do, though all my friends think that I am mental, but I don't know, I always felt so drawn to them," she said, handing him the keys when he closed the passenger door.

"That's all me, kid," he said, smirking. He looked over at Jackie, who had the sheen of sweat on her face again, and who was breathing shallowly. Damn, he thought to himself, she overdid it again. He turned to Jaimee, who looked just as concerned as he did, and said,

"Look, Jaimee, I'm sorry about how this turned out, but your mom is really sick. She overdid it, again, because she's too stubborn to admit when she doesn't feel well all until she's about to pass out. Last time she did this she was in the hospital for a week, and I have to make sure that she's okay. I have to go, but if you're still in town for a while, we should all get together again, maybe listen to some old LP's." Jaimee nodded at him, saying,

"I would like that." She moved closer to him, and gave him a hug. She may not have been as short as Jackie, but she still was shorter than him, and he managed to get a whiff of her hair while she hugged him. It smelled like strawberries, just like Jackie's, and he felt the tears spring to his eyes. He hugged her a little tighter, before they broke apart, and she said,

"Well, tell her that I hope she feels better soon. Oh, and before I forget, here is my number while I am here," and she scribbled something on a piece of paper, "and here are both my home and mobile numbers back in England." She handed him the piece of paper, and he tore off a smaller piece, took her pen and wrote down his numbers. He handed that to her, and she smiled at him, before she walked over to an Audi A6 a few cars down from his. She smiled at him, before she got in, and he got in his car as well. He looked over at Jackie, who by this time, was sweating profusely, and he reached over to squeeze her hand reassuringly.

"It's gonna be ok, Jackie. We're going to the doctor's right now," he said, his voice quiet, while Jackie murmured something to him. He started up the car, and drove off in the direction of the hospital, hoping that this time it wouldn't be something serious, though with every stay at the hospital his fear of losing her only grew stronger and stronger. He prayed to whoever would listen to him to let him keep her just a little longer, there were a few more things that he had to finish before she could go.


	16. Goodbye At Last

**A/N: Ok, folks, here is the next chapter! We're almost done, so for those of you who have stuck with me, I thank you deeply, and I hope that this chapter doesn't make you too sad. Again, thank you for sticking with me, through the thick and thin, and enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did, I would have done Season 8 with a Jackie/Hyde ending. Period.  
**

_May 16__th__, 2006 16:32_

Hyde paced up and down in front of the room in the ICU where Jackie was, clenching and unclenching his fists repeatedly. Jackie had been in there almost an hour with the doctor, and they still hadn't told him anything. Damn the formalities, he thought to himself, as he stopped pacing and turned towards the door. He was about to open it, when it opened and the doctor was standing in the doorway.

"Mr. Hyde," the doctor said. Hyde nodded to him, and entered the room, his patience wavering.

"So? What's the diagnosis, doc?" he asked, in a very soft voice. He looked over at Jackie, who he could see was sleeping, although not at all peacefully. Her breathing was shallow, and she had the sheen of sweat on her face. The doctor sighed, before he said,

"Well, Mr. Hyde, I don't know how to tell you this, but we don't think that she will last much longer." Hyde scowled at the doctor, before he said,

"Yeah, that's what they say every time we come here." The doctor looked at him pointedly, before he said, his voice full of sorrow,

"No, Mr. Hyde, we don't think that she'll last the week." Hyde stood stock still; she wouldn't last the week?! He could feel the color draining from his face, and he felt wobbly. The room was starting to go dark, and the next thing he knew, he was sitting in a chair. He looked up at the doctor, tears in his eyes, and said quietly,

"The week? No, that's not possible, we just met our daughter today…" His voice trailed off as he looked over at Jackie, her face whiter than the hospital sheets she was lying on. He reached a hand over to her, and stroked her face with just the very tips of his fingers. The doctor sighed, before clapping a hand on his shoulder, and said, his voice full of remorse,

"I'm very sorry, Mr. Hyde, but there is nothing that we can do. She is in the end stages of the disease, and the only thing that we could possibly do is to make her comfortable." The doctor quietly left the room, leaving Hyde with Jackie. He looked over at her, the tears starting to spill from his eyes, and he broke down as he looked at her. He cried like he hadn't cried since he was little, since the day that he took apart the nursery, his right hand on top of Jackie's left. He cried 25 years worth of tears, 25 years of wasted days. He cried for all the days that they should have had, and all the missed opportunities. He put his head down onto her bed, and just cried. Jackie heard him through her sleep, and she slowly opened her eyes. She looked around, confused for a minute, before she realized where she was. She turned towards the sounds of someone crying, and saw Hyde there, crying his heart out. She slowly picked up her right hand, and put it on top of his head. He looked up, and she saw the immense sadness written in his eyes. She frowned slightly, before she took her right hand to erase the wrinkles on his forehead.

"Steven, why are you crying?" she asked, her voice very soft. He looked at her and the tears only started anew.

"Steven, what is it?" she asked, her voice a little stronger, but still barely above a whisper. He choked back his tears, before he said,

"The doctors don't think that you'll… they don't think that… you're going to…" Jackie looked at him, and understood what he was trying to say.

"I'm dying, aren't I, Steven?" she asked, her voice very soft. Hyde looked down at his feet, not able to look at her face, and nodded. She sighed, before she took both hands, placed them on either side of his face, and gently pulled his face up to hers as she sat up.

"Steven, we both knew this day would come." He looked at her, her beautiful mismatched eyes, and he felt the tears streaming down his cheeks. He didn't care if she knew he was crying; hell, at this point he wouldn't care if all of Point Place knew he was crying. He didn't want to lose her, not when they had just found each other again. He stared into her eyes, and he saw them start to shimmer, filling with tears.

"Jackie, I just-I don't want to lose you again," he said, his voice quiet. She closed her eyes, the tears slowly spilling over, and she took a huge, heart-wrenching breath. She opened her eyes again, and looked at him.

"Steven, you will never lose me. Do you want to know why? Because I will always be right here," she said, as she placed her right hand over his heart. He burst into tears again at this point, and hugged her, clinging to her like a small child would to its mother. She hugged him back, and she kissed his cheek.

"Steven, no matter what happens, I will always be with you, always. I am as much a part of you as the air that you breathe," she whispered into his ear. He nodded into her hair, before he kissed it. He drew away from her, helping her to lie back down. She smiled at him slightly, before she said,

"I want to rest for a little bit, but before you go I want you to call everybody and tell them. I want to see everybody, including Jaimee, before I go." He nodded, before he turned around and left the room. He closed the door, and collapsed into tears against the wall.

An hour later, he had called everybody he could think of that she would possibly want to see and there was only one person left to call. The last hour had been his own personal hell, having to repeat over and over again that she was dying. Everyone had been in shock, but immediately agreed to come over. Kelso and Brooke were the only ones that would take a little time to get there, as they were in Chicago, but Kelso swore to him that he would make it within two hours, come hell or high water. Hyde took out his cell phone again, and found the little piece of paper that he had stuffed into his back pocket with Jaimee's number on it. He looked at the little paper in his hand, and with shaking hands he started to dial. He heard a dial tone, and after the third ring he heard someone answer.

"Hello?"

"Jaimee, this is Steven Hyde."

"Oh, hello, Steven. How are you?" He tried to hold back the tears, but the words that had to come out were choked with tears.

"Steven? What's happened? Is Jackie alright?" she asked, sounding very worried.

"She's… she's in the hospital, Jaimee, and um… she's dying," he said, the words barely choked out through his tears. He heard silence on the other end for a few seconds, before he heard a startled voice.

"What? But she was fine… it wasn't even three hours ago… I just _saw_ her!"

"Yeah, Jaimee, I know, but the doctors… they said…" he couldn't continue; how could he tell his daughter that her mother was dying when they had just met? He cried through the phone, and he could hear that Jaimee was choking up as well when she next spoke.

"Dear Lord… so soon… Steven, where are you? Are you at hospital?" Hyde nodded his head, while barely choking out,

"Y-yes."

"I'll be right there," she said, and he heard the click of the phone. He hung up, and leaned against the wall, the emotions draining him of all strength. It was then that he saw Eric, Donna and Kitty show up, with their three kids in tow. Donna and Kitty ran to him, both crying, and hugged him tightly. Eric came up behind, tears running down his face, while he watched his best friend and adopted brother cry his heart out. He couldn't even imagine what he would feel like if it was Donna, not Jackie, and he couldn't imagine Hyde without Jackie. The man was already breaking down, what was going to happen when she passed? Eric put a hand over his mouth, sobbing behind it. Hyde broke away from the two women, and threw himself into Eric's arms, crying like a little boy. The Forman children stood there, the youngest, Natalie, not really understanding what was going on, being only eight years old. She walked over to her mother, and tugged on her shirt, making Donna bend over to explain things to her. Her eyes filled with tears, and her sister, Jackie Forman, walked over to her, sitting her down in one of the chairs and giving her a big hug. Their son, Reggie, being a young man of fifteen, felt deeply uncomfortable with all the crying, but he would never say that he wasn't upset. He liked his Aunt Jackie a lot, and he was going to miss her.

"Steven, sweetie, where is Jackie?" Kitty asked him, and he pulled away from Eric, wiping away his tears. He motioned towards the door of room 315, and Kitty nodded at him, pulling Donna in with her. Eric and Steven stayed outside with the kids, explaining to them what was going on. The kids were all in shock that Jackie was dying, even though Donna and Eric had prepared them by explaining that Jackie was very sick. Jackie Forman, as the oldest Forman child at 19, had helped to explain everything to her younger siblings. She was obviously hit hardest by the news, as Jackie had taken her namesake shopping repeatedly to get to know her. Jackie Forman had been thrilled with her Aunt Jackie, and had formed a very close bond with her. Now, everything that she had known so far was falling apart, but she held fast, comforting her little sister.

A few minutes later, the five people outside were greeted by a screaming Donna and hysterical Kitty exiting Jackie's room. Donna was crying so hard, she had started to hyperventilate, forcing Eric to go and get her some help. Kitty sat down next to her grandchildren, and looked up at Hyde, before she said,

"She gave me and Donna a hundred thousand dollars each, Steven." Hyde looked at her, in shock that Jackie even had that kind of money, before Kitty folded over, crying her heart out. It was at this moment that Jaimee walked into the ICU, her eyes puffy and red. She looked around, and saw Hyde, running into his arms. She hugged him, before she looked up at him and said,

"Where is she?" Hyde nodded towards the door again, and she went towards it. She closed the door after herself, but she hadn't even been in the room for five minutes before she opened the door again, and said,

"Steven, she wants you in here as well." Hyde nodded to everyone standing outside, and went into the room. He closed the door after himself, and moved over to Jackie. Jaimee was sitting in the chair next to her bed, and Jackie looked up at Steven, smiling at him. She had tears in her eyes, but she refused to cry. She took a deep breath, before she said,

"Steven, I called you in here because there is something I need to discuss with both you and Jaimee." He nodded his head to her, and sat at the foot of her bed. Jackie took another deep breath, before she said slowly,

"There is something that I need to tell the both of you. All those years that I worked as, well, you know, I saved up a lot of money. _A lot_ of money. I spent almost nothing on myself until very recently, and even with my splurges I still have a lot left. I have an account with Chase Manhattan, which has about a million and a half dollars in it." Jaimee choked on the amount, while Hyde's eyes bulged out of his head. Jackie had _that_ much money saved up?! Jackie smiled at the both of them, and continued slowly,

"Jaimee and Steven, I want you both to take five hundred thousand dollars." Jaimee burst into tears, while Hyde stood up, a hand covering his mouth. He turned around for a second, before he turned back towards her and said,

"Jackie, I can't take that money." Jackie frowned at him slightly, before she said,

"You're not taking it from me, Steven. I can't take it with me to the grave, and I want the most important people in my life to have something. Not to remember me by," she said, cutting Hyde off,

"But to be able to live comfortably. I know that our lives were all fucked by our stupid decisions, Steven, and this is my way of saying that I'm sorry I was so stubborn and stupid. I should have just come home, Steven," she said, tears filling her eyes. She turned towards Jaimee, who was crying profusely, and said,

"Jaimee, I worked all those years, saving all that money for the people I loved, including you. Don't ever for one minute think that I didn't love you. I know money doesn't make up for time and love lost, but it was all for the people I loved." Jaimee nodded her head, the tears preventing her from speaking. Jackie turned back to Hyde, and said,

"Steven, I want you to know, I will always love you. I always did, and I always will, no less than I love you right now. No matter what happens, remember that I will always be with you. Oh, one more thing, before you both leave. My will was written out about a month ago, after my last hospital stay. You'll find it with Baker & Stevens, Esq., in which all of this is written down, so there's no way either of you can say that I was delirious on my deathbed. Now, both of you come here and give me a hug, before you go." Hyde walked over to Jackie's bedside, and Jaimee leaned over, both of them giving her a huge hug. Jaimee whispered "Thank you" to her, while Hyde kissed her cheek. Then both of them stood up and left the room, Jaimee still crying and Hyde, stoic of face, with tears running down his cheeks. They both left the room as Fez walked into the ICU, and stepped aside to let him in, to say his goodbyes.

Two hours later, both Kelso and Brooke had seen Jackie, and now the whole group stood outside of her room, everyone grieving in their own way. Jackie had also given Kelso and Fez a hundred thousand each, while the rest of the money was divided between the children of her friends, leaving everybody in shock. They all stayed there, Hyde mostly in the room with Jackie, until everyone started hearing the sounds of machines buzzing and nurses calling doctors. It was all over in a few minutes, as there was nothing that could be done to save her. The doctors and nurses exited the room, giving their apologies to the motley group outside. Hyde was the last to leave the room, having stayed behind to say his proper goodbyes to Jackie, kissing her still form on the forehead.

"Goodbye, Jackie, save me a place in Heaven," he said as he kissed her, before leaving her room. He exited the room, closing the door behind him, and looked at the group of people standing outside. He looked at them, all of them standing there waiting for him to say something, and all he could do was nod. A wail went up from the group, as they realized that one of the most important members of their group, was gone and she was never coming back. They all cried, even Kelso, and joined together as a group, hugging each other and crying together.

A couple of days later was the funeral, and to Hyde it seemed as if all of Point Place had turned up for the funeral. Everyone from the group was there, including their children. Jaimee had also stayed a little longer in the U.S., to say her final goodbye to her birth mother, and to comfort her birth father. Hyde seemed to be walking in a fog after Jackie's death, and a lot of people had decided to stay with him at the house. The Formans had stayed, as well as Kelso, Brooke, Fez and Jaimee. He had been comforted by his entire family being there with him, helping him through this hard time. Now, it was time to bury Jackie, and he, though stoic up until this point, was the one crying the hardest at the funeral. No one seemed able to console him, though they all understood there was no real way to console him; he had just lost the love of his life, who can console you after that? The minister had finished the sermon, and the casket was lowered into the ground, everyone coming to Hyde and Jaimee to give their condolences. Afterwards, everyone left, leaving Hyde and Jaimee there by her grave. Jaimee tried to comfort her father, but he told her that he would be fine; he just wanted to be alone with Jackie for a minute. She nodded her consent, gave him a hug and left. He looked down at the grave, being covered with dirt, and he plucked one single, beautiful red rose from one of the bouquets that stood around. He kissed the rose tenderly, before he laid it on the grave, saying,

"I miss you already, Jackie. I love you, and keep that place in Heaven open for me." He wiped his tears away, and started to walk away. He stopped about five feet from the grave, and turned slightly towards it. He shook his head; his poor, grieving mind was playing tricks on him, making him think that Jackie was calling his name. He turned back towards the cars, and then he heard it again, the merest whisper on the wind, calling his name.

"Jackie?" He turned around to face the grave, and he heard her call his name again, louder this time.

"Steven!" He raced back towards the grave, and stood there when he heard her call his name again. He cried out her name once more, and then everything went black.


	17. All Just A Dream

**A/N: Ok, folks, here is the last major chapter of this story! I hope that you will all enjoy it, and once again, I would like to thank everyone for sticking with me until the end. Thanks folks, and enjoy!**

_February 12__th__, 1981 6:54_

"Steven! Steven, wake up!" Hyde suddenly jerked away, looking around totally lost. He saw that he was in the Formans' basement again, and he was confused. He looked up and saw Red Forman, very much so alive and glaring at him.

"Well, it's about time you woke up, dumbass! Kitty and I have been standing here for five minutes trying to wake you up, not to mention Jackie who has been crying her eyes out trying to wake you up." Hyde didn't even register what Red had said to him; he still couldn't get over the shock of seeing the man that he considered a father alive. He jumped out of bed, and hugged Red hard, saying,

"Red, I haven't seen you in so long, oh my God, you're ok."

"What the hell is wrong with you Steven? Of _course_ I'm fine, you dumbass!" Red said to Hyde in a stern voice, not understanding what was going on. Hyde let Red go and looked around. Kitty looked at him strangely, before she said,

"Steven, what are you doing?"

"I'm looking for Jackie, Mrs. Forman. Where is she? Jackie!" He yelled out, and he heard someone come running from the bathroom. It was when Jackie ran into the room, screaming, "Is he awake? Is he ok?" that he really lost it. His whole world stopped and the only thing that he saw was her, tear streaks on her cheeks, standing in her pajamas in the doorway. He looked at her for a few more seconds, drinking in her healthy, vibrant appearance, before he ran over to her. He caught her in a hug that caught her completely off-guard; it was as if he hadn't seen her in years. She hung on to him as he hugged her, breathing in her scent, and she felt something wet hit her shoulder. He was _crying_?! Steven Hyde _never_ cried unless something was deeply, deeply wrong and she was scared. She pulled away from him, and said,

"What's wrong Steven?" He looked into her eyes, those beautiful mismatched eyes, and he said,

"Oh, Jackie, I missed you so much. You could never imagine how much I missed you."

"Steven, all I did was go to the bathroom to throw up after I tried for so long to wake you up. You were moaning and thrashing about in your sleep, I was so worried."

"I know, but I haven't seen you in so long, oh God, I haven't seen you in so long," he said, holding her even closer. At this point, Red threw his hands up in the air and said,

"Ok, Kitty, I'm going back to bed. These damned kids are probably so hopped up on whatever they're taking now that it's no use to try and understand them. Come on, now, back to bed." He pushed Kitty away from the little basement room, ignoring her worried cries that Hyde needed help, closing the door behind him, knowing that neither Steven nor Jackie even knew they had left.

"Steven, what do you mean you missed me? I didn't go anywhere other than to the bathroom," she said, the confusion clear in her eyes. Steven only held her closer, breathing in the scent of strawberries in her hair, the scent of her strawberry lotion, and he broke inside. He pulled back from her, only to close the small distance between them, bowing his head slightly to capture her lips in a kiss. The kiss was the deepest she had ever received from him; passionate, full of emotion and pure. She had never in her life been kissed like this; it was searing her lips off, melting them into his, just as her body was starting to melt into his. She leaned further into the kiss, her knees giving way as she gripped her arms harder around his neck. He pushed her further against him, wrapping his arms around her so tight she could barely breathe, but she didn't care. They had ceased to exist as separate people, they were fusing into one. She had never known that she could experience love like this, and the fact that she was made tears spring to her eyes once more, and she couldn't have stopped them falling down her cheeks anymore than she could have stopped the sun from rising. She was not the only one crying either, as Hyde had a profuse amount of tears falling down his cheeks as well, mingling with Jackie's, the embodiment of their fusing into one person, the two halves finally having found each other. Hyde pulled back from her slowly when he needed to breathe, looking straight into her eyes. He looked at her, his eyes betraying just how much love he felt for her, and Jackie's breath hitched at the love that shone in his eyes. He ran a thumb over her cheek, brushing away a tear, before she slowly said, afraid that her voice would tremble,

"Steven, baby, what happened? You keep looking at me like you haven't seen me in years." He laughed a little, only hugging her once more, before he said into her hair,

"You have no idea, Jackie. You have no idea how long it has been." He promised to himself in that moment that he would never let her go, that he wouldn't make the stupid mistakes that he had made in that previous life in this one, that he wouldn't ever fail her again. He loved her, and that was all that mattered.


	18. Epilogue: Our Love is Forever

**A/N: So here we go folks, the very last chapter in the story! I am so glad that you stuck with me for so long, and, though I am sad it has come to an end, as all things must, I am glad that it was such a wonderful journey. Thanks for sticking with me, and enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, but if I did, I would imagine that this is how I would have ended the series. Much better, in my opinion, than the crap they gave us that was Season 8.  
**

_May 16__th__, 2006 14:30_

Steven Hyde looked around at everyone getting ready, at Jackie running around like a chicken with its head cut off, trying to get everyone to pay attention and get them ready. She stopped running after the kids, and stood in front of Hyde, her hands on her hips. She glared at him, and said,

"Steven Hyde! Instead of standing there like a big lazy lump, you could help me get the kids ready, seeing as they're yours too!" He chuckled a little, before moving away from the wall he was leaning against and going up the stairs. He stood at the head of the stairs, and said,

"Robert and Kat, get your butts over here!" Two people shuffled out of two different bedrooms, both hanging their heads. The boy, a teenager of 17, stood in front of his dad, his aviator glasses on, and crossed his arms over his chest. The girl, 14 years old, stood in front of her father as well, shuffling her feet around. Hyde looked at his two children, a stern look on his face, before he said,

"You both know that today is a _very_ special day for your sister, so why are you giving your mother a hard time?" His son snorted, the typical Hyde snort, while his younger daughter only continued to shuffle her feet.

"Dad, who cares if Jaimee is getting married? Why do we have to be there, man? That is so society trying to make us conform to their standards!" his son said, while Hyde shook his head. The kid may look nothing like him, but he definitely inherited his personality. Robert was a tall 17-year old with hair that was a light brown, and had Jackie's mismatched eyes. He was also the total rebel in the house, to the point where Jackie was exasperated by his behavior 99.9 percent of the time. Hyde pointed an angry finger at his son, and said,

"Don't give _me_ that, young man! I _came up_ with it, so to your room you go, and get ready!" Robert uncrossed his arms, before he stormed back to his room, and started to get ready. Hyde looked over at his younger daughter, who looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said,

"Daddy, I want to go, but Jaimee picked out the _ugliest_ dress for me! It's _purple_, and you know how bad purple looks on me!" Hyde sighed, before he clapped a hand on Kat's shoulder, and looked into her crystal blue eyes as he said,

"Sweetheart, it's not your big day, but when it is, you can pick out the biggest, fluffiest, _pinkest_ dress that you can find for Jaimee to wear, ok?" Kat looked up at her father, and said, in a soft voice,

"Promise?" Hyde smiled, before he said,

"I promise." His daughter squealed, and ran back into her room to get ready, her ginger-colored hair flying behind her. He laughed, before he went back downstairs, to find Jackie sitting on the couch, brushing her long, thick hair. He came up behind her, and bent down to give her a kiss on the cheek. She smiled up at him, and said,

"So did you get the two of them to get ready?" Hyde flashed her a smile, before he said,

"Of course I did. Did you doubt that I could do it?" Jackie looked at him impishly, before she said,

"Doubt you, Steven Hyde? Why would I ever doubt you? I may question your sanity at times, but doubt you, oh never." He smiled at her, before he gave her another kiss, and went to go get dressed himself. He hated penguin suits, but for his little girl, he would do anything; hell, if she had asked him to dress as a clown and quack at her wedding he would have done it. Well, he thought to himself, not _that_ far. He finished dressing in his tuxedo in the master bedroom, and left it, shoes in hand. He banged on the door right next to the master bedroom, yelling out,

"Robert, you had better be finished!" He heard a muffled answer, and then the door opened to reveal his son dressed in a tuxedo as well, though obviously deeply uncomfortable. He looked at his father, who took off his glasses, and said,

"No glasses."

"But, Dad-"

"Don't 'But, Dad' me. I'm not wearing mine, so neither can you." Robert huffed, before he took the glasses from Hyde and put them in his room. Hyde banged on the door a little down the hall, and said,

"Kat, sweetie, you finished?"

"Almost, Daddy!" Kat's door opened, and out she floated, her light purple dress complimenting her ginger hair, which was twisted up in a French twist, quite a feat with hair as long as hers. Her makeup was light, reflecting the color of the dress. Hyde smiled at her, before he said,

"You're beautiful, sweetheart." Kat smiled at him, before she said,

"Thanks, Daddy." Hyde motioned to both of his children to go down the stairs before him, and he followed them down, where they met Jackie standing at the foot of the stairs, ready to go. She was wearing a beautiful light golden dress with black heels, and Hyde had to admit that his heart fluttered a little. He looked at her, before he said,

"You look beautiful, Jackie." She smiled at him as she put her earrings on, beautiful white gold hoops, and said,

"Well, thank you, Steven. I would hope that the mother of the bride looks beautiful." She kissed him on the cheek, before she turned to their children and said,

"Ok, guys you ready?" They all nodded their heads, and one by one exited the house, Hyde being the last to lock it up. He looked at his house once more from the front door, entranced by the difference of this house to the house of that other life, the one that had been a dream, and yet, more than a dream. It was the same house, but it looked so different. The carpet had been replaced a few years before with hardwood and stone tiles, and it definitely had the look of a house well-lived in and well-loved. He smiled once more, before he shut the door and went to the car.

Fifteen minutes later, they had shown up at the church, all piling out of the BMW 740i. Hyde smiled as Jackie clucked like a mother hen at her children, making sure that Robert had his hair in place, as much as was possible, and looking over Kat to make sure that her hair was well placed. Hyde grabbed Jackie's little hand in his when she was finished, and the two of them walked into the church where they had also gotten married. Jackie went off to help Jaimee get ready, while Hyde ushered the children to their respective places, waiting for the ceremony to start where Kat was a bridesmaid and Robert was an usher. He stood at the back of the line, waiting for Jaimee to come out of her dressing room and stand next to him. She finally came out with her mother following her, trying to make sure that her dress wasn't wrinkled anywhere, chasing her with a steaming iron. Hyde turned towards his daughter, and he froze. She was wearing an A-line dress, with a sweetheart neckline and a dropped waist, made of silk taffeta and tulle. She looked amazing, with her dark brown hair swept up and a tiara holding her veil. She came and stood next to him, and said, her voice very soft,

"Are you ready, Daddy?" He nodded to her, tears in his eyes, as he said,

"You look beautiful, sweetheart." She blushed slightly, saying,

"Thank you, Dad." He kissed her cheek, before he pulled her veil over her face, and they both faced forward as the music started.

Two hours later, Jaimee had married her fiancée, James, who was English and who she had met while at school abroad, and it was the first dance. Hyde had already danced with his daughter, before handing her over to James, and was dancing with Jackie. She looked over at her daughter, before looking up at Hyde, and said,

"She's so beautiful, isn't she, Steven?" Hyde smiled at Jackie, before he said,

"Yes, just like her mother was." Jackie blushed, before she looked up at Hyde, and very quietly said,

"Steven, do you ever regret any of it?" Hyde frowned a little, and said,

"Regret what, Jackie?" She squirmed a little under his gaze, those crystal blue eyes searing into hers, before she said,

"Do you ever regret marrying me? I mean, do you ever wonder how different our lives would have been if you hadn't married me?" Hyde stopped dancing, still holding Jackie, before he took his hands and framed her face with them. He looked at her, and said quietly,

"No, Jackie, I don't ever regret it. How could I regret marrying the love of my life?"

"But, Steven, you married me a little under a month after you found out I was pregnant. A month after that horrible day when you were so scared…" A tear slipped out from under her closed eyes, and he wiped it away, making her open them.

"Never for one second, Jackie. I already lived that life, and my life without you was pointless, meaningless. Look at all the wonderful things I have with you, our children, everything. There was never one moment that I ever regretted it, ever. I made you a promise a long time ago, that I would forever be by your side, that I would never leave you again, and I plan on keeping that promise." Jackie looked at him, confused by his words, but couldn't say anything as he said,

"I want to grow old with you, and only you, Jackie. I want to wake up with you by my side every single day, for the rest of my life. I love you, Jackie, and I would have it no other way. Our love is forever, doll." He leaned over, and sealed her lips with his, as Jackie's tears streamed down her face. The world disappeared for the both of them, containing only the two of them, and their love, which transcended time and space. They would have it no other way.


End file.
